Dream a Little Dream of Me
by letreeman
Summary: After Lizzie's confession, Carl has since become quite wary of her. And with this wariness comes a pronouncedly awkward sense of disconnect. But soon, events will come into play that will not only make them further apart than they've ever been, but also closer than they've ever been and ever will be.
1. Prologue

Lizzie and Tyreese walked straight through the forest, keeping a good pace but also being wary of their surroundings.

"There's a roadside market just outside the forest. The sooner we get there and back, the better." Tyreese assessed.

"Well how far is 'just outside'?"

"As far as we make it to be…" He responded, briefly stopping to turn to Lizzie while doing so, before moving forward again. Lizzie briefly raised her eyebrows in slight agitation at that.

"Make sure to mark every turn we make, we don't want to get lost." He instructed after a short silence.

"Can't we just follow our footprints?"

"Just mark them down to be safe. We don't wanna take any chances."

Lizzie nodded as the pair continued walking.

"And remember, if a walker comes at you, you run."

"I thought you're supposed to shoot." Lizzie objected.

"Only if you have to."

Lizzie gave a slightly annoyed look as if someone tried to make her smell a dirty sock.

"And what about you?"

"I'll run too. But if need be, I can handle myself."

"…Well so can I." Lizzie objected.

Tyreese stopped at hearing this and turned to Lizzie.

"…I know…" Tyreese remembered the fateful headshot on Alisha that had perplexed him since the moment he saw it.

"So why can't I shoot then?" Lizzie followed up.

"You can, but only if you need to. Same goes for me."

Lizzie had a defiant but at the same time compliant expression on her face, but that soon changed to one of urgency as snarls were heard coming in nearby.

"Look out!"

While Tyreese's back was turned, a walker attempted to sneak up on him, but thanks to Lizzie's warning, he was able to quickly turn back, grab his axe and slash its skull. Another walker made its approach from behind Lizzie.

"Get behind me!" Tyreese urgently instructed as he went to kill the snarling walker. The force of the blow caused the axe to get stuck in the walker's skull and as Tyreese was pulling it out, a third walker made its way towards the pair. Quickly, Lizzie tossed her knife to Tyreese who stabbed it in the neck. The blow was not enough to kill it though and Tyreese and the walker were locked as the former tried to remove the knife whilst keeping the latter from biting him. In one very quick motion however, Tyreese managed to get the knife out of the walker's neck, but the strength of his push forced the walker to the side, right towards Lizzie, who quickly took out her gun and shot it. The walker fell to the ground, not moving.

Tyreese and Lizzie briefly looked at each other, panting, before Tyreese gave Lizzie her knife back and went to assess his surroundings. The path led to a crossroads.

"We'll turn right. Mark our turn." Tyreese said, and he moved on.

Lizzie went to a nearby tree and prepared to use her knife to mark it. But just as the blade was about to touch the tree's bark, Lizzie heard a small rustling, and she turned and saw a chipmunk move down from the tree, onto the ground and into the bushes right across. Lizzie followed her gaze to the chipmunk's movements, and she stood there by the tree, her knife still having not quite touched the tree yet. She eyed the bush she saw the rodent disappear into. Her panting stopped, and she looked at it with a fixed expression that looked contemptuous…and unhinged. She looked as if she was seeing her mother's killer. But as she eyed the bush, the walker she had shot earlier sprung up and ambushed her; she had only shot it in the face, but not in the brain. Lizzie though, reflexively turned back and jabbed her knife right in the walker's head and pinned it against the tree. She had the same look on her face, but with her eyebrows more furrowed, as she looked at the lame and dead walker's head against the tree. She slowly, almost intimately, twisted her knife around its head before removing it and letting the walker fall to the ground. She then stabbed the walker in the spot on its neck Tyreese stabbed it in, and began to slice. She soon walked away, leaving the walker's head leaning on the tree.

She caught up to Tyreese. Aside from slicing the walker's head off, everything had actually happened rather quickly.

"That took longer than it should have…" Tyreese remarked.

"One of them tried to ambush me." Lizzie replied.

"…You should have run then…"

As he said that, Lizzie noticed another walker creeping up behind them. She quickly grabbed Tyreese's axe from his belt, made her way to the walker, and swung. It fell dead before her, as Lizzie looked at her work, with a proud smirk forming on her face.

She then turned to Tyreese with that expression.

"I can handle them." She said in a somewhat jolly tone, and she started walking forward once more. "Just give me a weapon."

* * *

**Aaand cue the theme song! So, by a very surprising popular demand (thanks guys!) I have made my sequel for You Should Give More Hugs! Now let me say first of all, that, as the writer of YSGMH, (SPOILER ALERT!) I'm quite bummed ****after what happened in "The Grove"... To be fair though, Carol kinda needed to do what she did... She did have her reasons. And given those reasons, the first thing I did in this story was get rid of Lizzie's creepy love of walkers! Hope you guys enjoy! Just like last time, criticize if you want to, but do so constructively and not rudely and pointlessly or risk getting reported. And I'll still be putting in Andrea references 'cause I'm of course eternally devoted to her. But they won't be as explicit as they were last time. In fact, I put a couple of them here now which you may or may not have noticed! And speaking of Andrea, shameless plug, but I've posted a few chapters on another story I've written about Andrea and Michonne. You're welcome to give it a read if you like!  
p.s. - Just so that no one gets confused, this particular chapter is the prologue and it's a flashback  
p.p.s - I kinda forgot that Tyreese actually uses a hammer and not an axe...oh well...**


	2. Thank God for the Tracks

Lizzie and Carl stood in front of the house near the one they were in, looking over its size and calculating how much they could retrieve from it.

"We both know how this works, don't we?" Lizzie asked while keeping her gaze upon the house.

"…Yeah." Carl flatly and quickly replied. After what had happened between them, he really didn't have much to say to her.

"Well, alright then." Lizzie acknowledged as she proceeded to move forward towards the house. Carl followed shortly afterwards, still keeping a somewhat tense expression on his face.

The two made their way to the porch and Lizzie slowly and carefully, reached her hand to the front doorknob and turned it.

"Door's open." She whispered. "Go in, grab everything we can and then get out…" Lizzie went to open the door. "Ladies first, am I right?" She briefly turned back to Carl to sort of lighten the mood, but she found that he still had a tense look on his freckled face.

"…Carl!"

"Yeah, yeah. Okay." Carl finally responded. "No wait, no. I'll go in first." He said as he moved for the door. Lizzie's hand was on the knob, ready to turn it. He couldn't think of anything else but nod, and she quickly opened the door, as he quickly entered the house, gun raised. Lizzie followed shortly after. Carl gave another quick nod to Lizzie, signaling for them to disperse and find supplies. He quickly began to shuffle towards the living room while Lizzie briefly stood there, directing a questioning look at Carl before heading upstairs herself.

Lizzie shuffled about the area carefully. She clutched her gun with both hands, her two pointer fingers lightly touching the trigger, ready to press down on it should any surprises come along. She could pass for a cop the way she looked, or maybe even a super spy, she thought. She went into one room and made a quick sweep. She closed the door, just in case, and looked around the room for anything to take. She found that the room was quite barren. There were no photos, posters, or accessories of any kind, just a bed and an empty desk. This wasn't the first time Lizzie had been in such a room, but in spite of that, or probably because of that, she was beginning to wonder if people had their priorities straight when everything first started. After all, it would be quite impractical to pack in all those stuff and things when you could have more weapons or at least less weight on you. She then went into the room's closet and found that there was quite an abundance of clothing. Based off of those, it appeared to Lizzie that the former inhabitant was a teenage girl, probably a little older than she. Lizzie took two shirts and a pair of pants and packed them. She made her way out of the room and briefly retook her guarded stance before heading into the next room. This room was more barren the last; all there was, was a computer sitting there, somewhat staring back at her. Lizzie remembered the old days, when she would randomly browse the Internet in her free time, looking at random information and random blogs. How carefree she was back then, she thought to herself. She then left the room, empty handed, and proceeded to walk to the next room she saw. She didn't have her guarded stance on this time and walked straight; it didn't look like there would be anything that would jump out on her anyway. But when she opened the door to the next room however, she found a corpse lying on a bed. She gasped and twitched upon seeing it, and then afterwards looked to her left and saw another corpse. It looked like a teenage girl, perhaps the one whose clothes she took. It had a bite on its arm and a bullet in its head. Lizzie looked sadly upon it. What if that could be Mika in the future? What if that could be _her_? And she suddenly remembered, didn't she hear Tyreese say something about Carol having a daughter? She then directed her attention towards the corpse on the bed. Long blonde hair still flowed from its decaying head, while clothing was intact on its decaying body. It might have once been the teenage girl's mother. But she really wouldn't know. But what Lizzie did know was that to her, this corpse reminded her of her mother. It was an even sadder sight to Lizzie. As much as she had made peace with it, her mother's death and its circumstances were a brutal symbol of the regret, sadness and anger that she had in her heart ever since everything started. She holstered her gun and reached out and put a hand on the corpse. Funerals and casket burials were dead institutions now, so that was her way of paying her respects. She took an audible deep breath before removing her hand from the corpse. But as she did, it suddenly sprung back to life and grabbed her by the wrist. The dead woman had turned out to be undead. Lizzie cursed under her breath as she fought hard to keep the walker from bringing her wrist to its mouth. After a short struggle, Lizzie quickly grabbed her knife and stabbed it in the head. Now, the corpse truly was a corpse. But just as Lizzie was catching her breath, she heard a noise coming from a closed door in the room. She clutched her knife as she carefully approached the door. After a moment's tenseness, she opened it. It was a bathroom, with a white curtain covering the shower and a square mirror complementing the sink. But there was nothing in sight. After making sure of that by looking into the shower, Lizzie found that the noise she heard was from knickknacks on the bathroom window that were sounded off by the outside breeze. Lizzie sighed in relief at the false alarm, but she suddenly felt a hand grab her shoulder. She rapidly turned back with a loud gasp but found that it was just Carl.

"…I saw the mess here." He said after a few rather awkward moments.

"…No kidding…" She replied flatly in spite of her more pronouncedly loud breathing.

"Are you okay?"

Lizzie nodded shakily. "Yeah." She simply said.

"Well…I couldn't find much here… We'll have to go to the next house."

"…Alright… Let's go." She concurred while straightening up.

Lizzie turned the knob of the front door to the other house but it wouldn't budge.

"It's locked." She said, and she began digging her hands into her pockets.

"Wait. I think I can handle this." Carl thought out loud as he began to back away.

"What?" A perplexed Lizzie inquired, but just as she did, Carl began to charge towards the door, apparently in an attempt to knock it down. The attempt failed and Carl soon found himself lying on his back on the ground. Lizzie chuckled at this and took two paper clips from her pockets. She unfolded them and then used them to pick the lock.

"Men. Everything the hard way." Lizzie joked, but Carl just looked blankly and picked himself up.

"Ladies first." Carl gestured after a short but rather awkward silence. Lizzie held her gun and went in, with Carl following shortly after. She didn't understand. It wasn't too long ago that they would laugh about something like what had just happened. What was it that made him act so cold towards her, she thought. Was it something about her confession? Was it something about their kiss?

"Same thing? Me on top and you under?" She asked, thinking nothing, for now, of the questions she held in her.

"Yeah." Carl softly said. And the two made their ways to their respective areas.

"That kinda came out wrong, didn't it?" Lizzie asked, making another attempt at putting a touch of humor. But all she got in response was a very light and "blink and you'll miss it" smile from Carl. She was thinking to herself, why was _she _the one making the bad jokes now?

As Lizzie began to make her way upstairs, Carl looked through the kitchen. Thankfully for him, he was able to find more than he did in the previous house. Searching through the cupboards, he found jars of peanut butter and strawberry jelly, canned macaroni, canned mushroom soup, corned beef and even a nice and sharp kitchen knife. Carl couldn't help but grin at the comparatively better luck he had in this other house, and he hadn't even searched through the pantry yet. He went and opened its door, but was suddenly ambushed by a walker. It pinned him to the ground and crunched maniacally at Carl, who was using all his strength to keep its teeth from touching his skin. Fortunately, Carl still had the kitchen knife he had found in his free hand, and so he dug his other arm against the walker's neck, elevating it just enough for him to get a clear shot and drive the knife into its skull. Carl sighed in relief as he got back up and removed the knife, and then found Lizzie, who was just about to intervene, standing by the stairs, having just lowered her gun.

"So…" Lizzie began. "I saw the mess here." She joked with a smile. But Carl only looked at her blankly while breathing heavily.

"Did you find anything?" He asked seriously. Lizzie sighed, her smile disappearing into it.

"Not much. I was only in one room when I heard the noise." She replied.

"…You should go back up then." Carl instructed, beginning to turn away. "I still have to look for stuff in the pantry."

"Carl." Lizzie called, just as his back turned to her. He turned his face just sideways enough for him to acknowledge her. "Is there something you need to say to me?"

A moment passed without him answering.

"…You should look upstairs." He finally replied, and he turned away to go look into the pantry, as Lizzie sighed and made her way upstairs.

Lizzie grabbed whatever clothes she could. Apparently, the family that lived in this house had children her age, a boy and a girl. It also apparently had a baby, as she also picked up a shirt that she knew would fit Judith. She rummaged some more through the rooms and found something she never thought would be relevant to her after everything started. She found an iPod. At seeing it, she remembered how she would always study hard for math tests to try and get her parents to buy her one. It had been so long; she couldn't even remember what model it was. She picked the tiny music box up. The earphones were still plugged in, and it was time for the moment of truth. She pressed the button on top of its upper left corner, and low and behold, it turned on. The time said 2:22, but Lizzie wondered if that was actually the time. It didn't matter. She smiled as she shook her head and pocketed the little music box.

* * *

In the forest, a walker was shambling, as lifeless as the corpse it really was. But as it walked, something captured its attention, and it then began to snarl and shamble faster. But it's shambling was met with a machete slicing through its head. Carol fought through the nagging pain on her shoulder. Why, she asked herself, did she have to be right handed? Carol tendered and stretched it out as she saw Tyreese take on an incoming walker and bash its head repeatedly with his hammer. Carol looked uneasy at seeing this, but not afraid.

"You're welcome." She said rather nonchalantly as she continued walking.

"Excuse me?" Tyreese replied with a rather resentful tone.

"I was the one that got that hammer. I was gracious enough to give it to you since that axe would always get stuck in their heads."

"I don't have to thank you for nothing…" Tyreese replied blankly, the blank but angry expression on his face unchanging.

"You sure she ran through here." Carol asked after a short silence.

Tyreese nodded in reply. "Yeah. You can see the footprints if you look hard enough."

They continued to walk on. It had been a while since Lizzie ran away. They wanted to search as soon as they could, but Carol needed to heal.

"Yeah I see them…and others too. Looks like she had company."

"You think they got her?"

"No!" Carol asserted. "We'd find a body if they did…" And the two walked on.

That may have been her reasoning, but Carol had other reasons for why she felt in her gut that Lizzie was still out there, alive…

* * *

Carl sat on the couch, having arrived back at the house after his and Lizzie's run, slicing open a can of beans. Lizzie came and sat beside him.

"Look what I've got." She said, showing him the iPod she had found. But Carl was silent, moving his head around but not speaking. Lizzie sadly sighed, and proceeded to get up.

"What model is it?" Carl finally asked. Lizzie turned around and saw an uneasy expression on his face. She had to admit she found it kind of cute.

"I don't know." She said, looking over the device. "I'd ask you the same thing."

Carl laughed lightly. "Which house did you find it in?"

"The second one…" Lizzie replied.

"…Cool."

The conversation, as great as it was to be having one, was awkward. That much was obvious to both of them. It was nothing like the ones they would have before in the prison, or right before Lizzie admitted to what she did.

"I'll…uh…I'll get you a bowl for that…" Lizzie finally said after a short lull.

"No," Carl interrupted as she began to turn to the kitchen. "I'll get it."

He stood up and began making his way to the kitchen, but stopped for a while when he reached where Lizzie was standing.

"You should…you should sit. I'll get one for you too."

"Thanks." Lizzie said sweetly, and she noticed that Carl was lightly holding her arm. He then he continued to the kitchen.

They ate beside each other on the couch. It was silent, the loudest sound being that of spoons scraping the bowls. Lizzie looked out the window behind them and noticed the sky was beginning to darken. Apparently, the iPod indeed had the wrong time on it.

"It's gonna be dark soon." She pointed out, breaking the silence in the process.

Carl looked out the window as well. "…It's gonna rain soon…" He added in a worried tone. He turned back to Lizzie.

"Why? What's wrong?" Lizzie asked.

"Okay…" Carl began. "I think what we have now can only last us so long, so we're gonna have to spread it out over a few days, and I was thinking, we should have something for us each day so we that we won't…you know, go hungry…"

"So you're saying…" Lizzie interrupted.

"I'm saying we should hunt. I mean, there are a lot of things to go around here, squirrels and whatnot, but if it rains…" Carl looked worriedly at the darkening sky.

"They'll hide. Shelter themselves. And we're not trackers…we won't find them."

"And, we won't really be able to do much in rain anyway," Lizzie added. "I got it. When are we heading out?"

"Let's go as soon as we can…now." Carl asserted, and he got up to prepare for the impromptu hunt.

"Carl." Lizzie called out, and Carl turned back to face her. She took a deep breath.

"I know that it wasn't easy for you, to keep someone like me around, especially after what I did. I don't know if you're just saving me for later, or if you've somehow decided to…to spare me, but I just wanted to say thank you."

Lizzie found the courage to look directly at Carl.

"I know that what I did was bad, and I may not want to die, but I know I deserve to… So thanks. For giving me a little more time…"

Carl ponderingly looked down for a moment. "Get ready." He said, his voice heavy. "We're going hunting." He quipped as best as he could with as best a smile as he could muster, and he made his way upstairs.

After a moment of staring, Lizzie inhaled deeply through her nose and leaned forward, resting her arms on her lap and clasping her hands together. She looked down on the ground and let the tears fall.

* * *

Carol and Tyreese arrived back at the house. Mika was standing in front of them as they came in.

"Still didn't find her?" She asked meekly.

"No." Carol sadly replied. "The trail went cold honey."

"You're gonna try again tomorrow, right?"

"Of course we are. Don't worry." She assured her. "…How is everyone?"

"Luke and Molly still won't come out. They're still scared of you… And Judith, she's just being Judith…"

Carol nodded uneasily. "Alright… Tell them we're gonna be having dinner soon… We brought squirrel…"

Mika nodded and then proceeded upstairs.

"You should set up a fire outside." Carol told Tyreese.

"Looks like it's gonna rain soon…"

"I picked up shade on a run." Carol stated before moving for the living room as Tyreese slowly nodded.

"Sure we'll continue looking again?" He followed up, and Carol turned to face him.

"Look, I know the trail didn't cold enough for us to lose her, but Carol, it just goes on and on. We'll be miles away from here by the time we find her, _if _we find her."

"I think it's worth looking for her regardless, don't you think?" Carol fiercely replied.

"You can rest for a while. I'll help you with the fire when it's time." She added.

Without a word, Tyreese made his way to the living room and put his gun, hammer and other equipment on the side table. Carol put away her machete as well. She took out her gun, and after briefly uneasily staring at Tyreese for a moment, put it on the side desk as well, and switched her route to upstairs.

Elsewhere, Rick Grimes took several guns from display. He had hit the jackpot when he found a weapons and ammunitions shop on the road. After stocking his car with the much-needed weapons, including hand guns, semi-automatics, and a sniper rifle, he went back in, and continued to drive on. While the tracks he was following were faded, they were still visible. Thank God for that…

* * *

Lizzie and Carl made their way through the forest. It was pretty dark, and their vision was limited, but thankfully it wasn't non-existent.

"Are we actually good at throwing knifes?" Lizzie suddenly remembered. "I mean, we can use them, but can we throw them?"

"Well…the idea I guess is to creep up on them, so they won't see us coming."

"…So you don't know how to throw knifes?"

"…No."

Lizzie giggled at this, and surprisingly for her, so did Carl.

"All that time we spent with Daryl, and you never got him to teach you that? Or at least about how to hunt…"

"I think he did share some things with me, but I think I forgot it all…"

They chuckled some more, until they heard a rustle in the bushes. Carl and Lizzie put on their game faces and followed the noise. It was a rabbit, foraging on the ground. They both held their knives as tried their best to creep up on it. After a moment, Carl took a deep breath and lunged. Whether it was because it had exceptionally quick reflexes or because Carl had gone wrong somewhere, the rabbit escaped into the bush, leaving Carl face down on the forest floor. Lizzie tried to follow the rabbit, but it was just too quick.

"We'll have to split up." Carl asserted. "We'll meet back here." He proceeded to then carve an X on the nearest tree. They then dispersed.

Carl went one way, and tried to take in the sounds of woodland creatures and pinpoint their locations. It was a tall order, something only the likes of Daryl could accurately pull off, but he did his best. He followed the sound of where he though he heard a twig snap, and whether it was by luck or skill, he found a squirrel. It was just making its way up a tree, unaware, and Carl slowly made his way towards it, doing his best to sneak up on it. But he kept his attention too much on the squirrel and ended up stepping on another twig. The snapping sound was enough to startle the squirrel, and it quickly made a run for farther up the tree. Carl, hoping for a miracle, threw his knife at the tree, but it just clanged and bounced off of it, having gotten nowhere near the squirrel. Carl cursed under his breath.

Meanwhile, Lizzie wandered through the forest as well, keeping her eyes and ears open for any signs of potential food. From a distance, she though she heard a noise. She followed where she thought she heard it and went to investigate. Just like with Carl, she lucked out and could see movement behind a bush. She pushed the bush, knife ready, but found that the animal behind it was a bobcat…a fully-grown bobcat that noticed her, took a defensive stance and growled at her. Lizzie was practically frozen solid. She knew that these were capable of taking down deer, what more a girl like her? Trying her best to remember what she heard she should do when encountering an animal like this, she straightened herself and kept eye contact with it. Don't make yourself look vulnerable, she thought. And please let there not be any walkers, she also thought. Finally, after a stare down, the bobcat finally moved away, and Lizzie let one big sigh of relief.

Carl picked up his knife and turned to leave, but was slightly startled at the sight of a rattlesnake slithering by. A lot of animals have been turning up, he thought to himself. He slowly crept up to the snake, but suddenly it turned to him, directing its venomous eyes at him. Carl prayed that its venomous teeth wouldn't sink themselves into him. After a tense moment, Carl heard the rattlesnake's signature warning rattle and eagerly took its offer and backed away.

Lizzie continued to look through the forest floor and up at the trees and then saw, up in a canopy, a barn owl. It was an absolutely magnificent creature, she thought, but she needed its meat, and it had its head turned, so it was fair game. She took out her gun, with the silencer fastened at its tip, and took aim. But in true Murphy's Law form, the owl suddenly did its famous 360o head turn, and pretty much caught Lizzie red handed, startling her. Before she could react though, the owl suddenly started to fly _towards_ her. With a scream, Lizzie fell back to the ground, and then turned over to see the owl on the floor, having grabbed a mouse. Before Lizzie could react, the owl flew away with its kill.

Carl continued looking for something, anything to bring back. He had already defied the "third time's the charm" rule, and was beginning to get desperate. He searched through the woods, and found what looked like a pure godsend: a deer. With complete eagerness, he took out his gun, and made his way toward the grazing creature. But for some ungodly reason, a noise, not Carl's, sounded out and grabbed the deer's attention, startling it and causing it to run away.

"FUCK!" Carl grunted, but he had grown more desperate. While the deer was still in sight, he made the split-second decision to chase after it. He chased it a certain distance, but couldn't keep up, and eventually the deer ran into a rather deep part of the forest. Still desperate, Carl moved to follow it.

"Don't!" Lizzie warned, grabbing his arm. "We don't know what else is out there."

But then, they heard the very last sound they wanted to hear: snarling. Lizzie quickly grabbed Carl and hid them behind a tree. They heard the sounds of the walker's feet hitting the ground, and tried to remain as silent as they could.

But as they hid, Lizzie saw something: a chipmunk. Her eyes blanked out in a way, and her expression looked a little more unhinged. Carl noticed this, and followed her gaze to the chipmunk. He knew why Lizzie was staring at it the way she did, but was hoping she would do anything irrational. That wasn't the case though, and before he knew it, Lizzie began running after it.

"Shit. Lizzie! LIZZIE!" Carl screamed as he ran after her.

But it seemed as if Lizzie was on some kind of adrenaline rush, and she somehow managed to keep pace with the rodent. She was able to scare it off of trees and keep sight of it. Carl did his best to keep up, trying to get to her. God knows what could happen to her if she gets even a tad reckless. Another walker ambushed him, Lizzie might have been too fast for it, but Carl simply pressed his gun against its chin and shot it. Another one made a go at him, but he pinned it to a tree and shot it as well.

"Lizzie!" He continued to call out, but it was as if she was numb. She was going to chase that chipmunk to the ends of the world if she had to. It was dark, and Carl could barely see in the forest, but thankfully it was at least bright enough for him to see Lizzie's fresh footprints. Thank God for that.

Finally, the chipmunk started to make its way up a large tree. Lizzie wouldn't be able to get it out of this one. Carl had managed to catch up to her. At this point, his calling of her name was beginning to get to her. The chipmunk was getting farther up the tree, it was going to be beyond her sight soon, and Lizzie, in one last burst of frustration, threw her knife at the tree.

She breathed heavily and turned to see Carl staring in shock. She had a fierce, almost scary, expression on her face. Her eyebrows were furrowed and her hair was messy, which made her look even scarier. She walked away, brushing past Carl, who continued to stare forward in shock and awe. He then walked over to the tree. The chipmunk was dead. The knife had stabbed it right through the center of its body.

* * *

**A/N: So, yeah. Sorry for taking a while to update. You know how exams are... Well in retrospect, it did take me a week, which is kind of how long it takes for Walking Dead episodes to come by...hehe... (excuses, excuses. I know...)  
So for the upcoming chapters, I'll be paying tribute to season 3 in a way. But don't worry. This story is very much set in the second half of season 4. You'll find that out for sure soon enough!**


	3. A Different Side to Me

"What the hell was that!?" Carl exclaimed as he and Lizzie stormed back in the house.

"Ohhhh my God!" Lizzie sarcastically exclaimed back, swiftly turning to face him. "You actually spoke _first_!"

"…What!?" Carl replied in bewilderment and anger.

"You've been treating me like I'm some goddamn lost puppy who won't go away! _Every single time _I try to talk to you, you _always _respond with that same 'hmph'!"

She shot at him, making the best impression she could of a bull snorting.

"Oh don't change the subject on me, Lizzie Samuels! You ran straight into the forest, all alone, where you could have been pecked, or stung or mauled or _bit_, just to follow that one damn chipmunk, and then, you brought back _this_."

Carl held up the dead chipmunk by its tail for Lizzie to see.

"Well, Carl Grimes, if you listened to me pour my heart out to you, you'd know why I killed that _motherfucker _over there!" She yelled out as she pointed at the chipmunk.

"So what? You hate chipmunks now? You hate rodents? You hate them enough to run straight into a forest full of goddamn walkers!?" He blurted out rather quickly.  
"What's next!? _You_ fed the rats to the walkers at the prison fence!?"

Carl was sarcastic in saying that, since they never even talked about that. But he saw Lizzie cross her arms and look on the ground in what looked a little bit like guilt. His face took up an appalled expression.

"Oh my God…" Carl reacted in pure frustration. "Who the hell _are_ you?"

"I told you about that too, Carl."

"Well you didn't tell me about the part where you risked getting that fence put down! Oh, what the fuck does it even matter anymore!?" Carl threw aside the chipmunk.

"Just suck it up Carl! It's been God knows how long already! The prison's gone and,"

"Well that's pretty easy for you to say isn't it?" Carl loudly interrupted. "Now that we're out here, there's more for you to do right!?"

"Carl what the hell is your,"

"It's a big wide place! More people to run out on, more small animals to kill, and hey! Maybe more people to kill in their sleep!"

"Oh! For fuck's sake!" Lizzie rolled her eyes. "Is that what this is all about!?"

"YES THAT'S WHAT IT'S FUCKING ALL ABOUT!" Carl finally snapped, as Lizzie sharply raised her eyebrows.  
"They were good people Lizzie! We had no idea where that disease was going or how it was going around! And you know what? Who the hell were you to decide that Karen and David needed to die!?"

"Carl, I already told you! I was wrong! I knew that the moment I took the knife out of their heads! But for God's sake! My dad had died, and I didn't have the guts to put him down myself! I felt weak! And I did what I did! …I'M MESSED UP OKAY?"

"See that's the thing Lizzie! That's what you're showing me! You're showing me exactly how messed up you are! You ran _straight _into the forest full of walkers and you killed that!" He pointed to the chipmunk carcass that had landed on the couch.

"It was a moving target, Liz! That throw was one in a million! If you're fucking messed up enough to do that, and messed up enough to kill Karen and David, then what the hell are you capable of doing now? What are you gonna do to me? What are you gonna do to my dad? To Judith?" Carl asked in a pleading voice.

A short silence followed wherein, poetically enough, a soft thunderclap sounded off.

"Why didn't you kill me then? You had the chance…"

"You're asking me that now? You were the one pleading with me not to kill you…"

"You didn't have to let me live you know…" Lizzie interrupted. "…You could have waited for me to put my guard down…and then you could have killed me when I least expected it… But you didn't… Instead…you kissed me… Look, I don't mean to switch topic or anything, but…what was that all about?"

A silence ensued. Carl had a sullen look on his face. He didn't answer.

"You know what…" Lizzie took up an irritated tone "…that's where it all started. That's when I became, that damn lost puppy to you…"

Carl still didn't break his silence or expression. Lizzie kept her arms crossed, furrowed her eyebrows, and slightly leaned forward.

"You're scared of me aren't you? Aren't you!?" Lizzie started to become louder.  
"Tell me I'm wrong! You're scared of me right!? Scared of a girl your age? Hmm? Am I right? …AM I RIGHT!?"

"Enough already! No! I am _not_ scared of you! I just think you're FUCKED UP!"

"Well tell me something I don't know!"

"No! You're so fucked up, that _everything else_ gets _FUCKED UP_!" Carl had once again snapped.  
"Karen, David… You were naming the damn walkers 'cause you couldn't tell the _fucking _difference between them and actual people! You fed them fucking rats, rang the damn dinner bell for God's sake! You know what, if you didn't chase that chipmunk, your mother would still be alive and we wouldn't be having to deal with this shit!"

The moment he mentioned her mother, Lizzie put on a different face. Instead of the angry, irritated expression she had had for most of the exchange, she now had a sad expression, a hurt look on her face. Carl saw this, and he knew that he had crossed the line.

"Lizzie… I…I…" Carl stuttered, but Lizzie simply replied with a hard slap to the face. Tears were beginning to form in her eyes, and she quickly turned back and stormed back up the stairs. Lizzie went into the bedroom and stood there as she put her hand on her face and sobbed. She then sat herself down, and then reached into her pocket. She took out the iPod she had found earlier that day. Seeing no reason not to, she put on the earphones on and then played the first song. The screen read:

Dream a Little Dream of Me

Mama Cass

She breathed in and out as slowly and as calmly as she could as the sounds of the guitar strumming began to play. The strums were then joined by Mama Cass's mellow voice, singing the lyrics,

_Stars shining bright above you_

_Night breezes seem to whisper, "I love you"_

_Birds singing in the sycamore tree_

_Dream a Little Dream of Me_

The song played on, as Carl walked out the house, onto the front lawn. He was breathing intensely in guilt. It couldn't get any worse, he thought. But, as what would always happen, as soon as he thought it, the ominous beats of thunder had fulfilled their prophecy as the drizzling he had come out to, transformed into a full rain shower. The fact that it seemed like it was something out of a movie was not lost on Carl, but all he could will himself to do, was look down and sigh in annoyance. He let the rain pelt down on him. Perhaps it was karma, he thought.

"…Mom." He broke his silence. "I don't know what to do… I'm fucking things up… Sure. You had one fight too many with dad…in front of me… But I could really use your help right now… Goes without saying…I miss you… And how I wish you were still here…"

As Carl stood in the pouring rain, he felt a pair of gentle arms wrap around his waist. It was Lizzie. She rested her face on Carl's shoulder as she let the rain drench her too. They stood there in silence, taking in each other's presence and letting the rain make all the noise.

**x**

After going back inside, they were Indian sitting across each other, on the floor, with bowls of ground beef to eat from. They ate in silence for a while.

"Look…um…" Carl began. "I'm really sorry that I…"

"No," Lizzie interrupted. "I got too in your face. I was practically asking for it… Sorry I slapped you."

"It's fine." Carl nodded. "But seriously I'm sorry." He said with a smile.

Lizzie smiled back. "It's fine…"

This was the first time in a long time that they've smiled at each other. They took a moment to take in each other's smiles, with Lizzie taking in Carl's closed lip, modest, boy next-door smile, and Carl taking in Lizzie's wide, alluring, radiant one. In spite of what had just happened with them, they felt that they could look at them forever. Eventually, Lizzie blushed and looked away, before taking in another spoonful.

"Look Carl," She said in a serious tone after swallowing. "I know that I'm messed up. I'm not gonna try to deny it. And… I just wanna say I'm sorry, for all the trouble I've caused you… I don't know why you chose not to kill me, as much as I didn't want you to, I wouldn't have been surprised if you did. But I just want you to know that I am just as hurt and just as angry at myself for what I did as you are. You may not have killed me, but I die everyday thinking about what I did…" She began to cry.  
"Whenever I think of what I did to them, and what I did to Tyreese, what I did to you, and to Carol… And if Mika ever found out…" She choked on her words.  
"Like I said," she continued, after composing herself. "I'm messed up… There's just… this part of me…a different side to me that's just. That's the side of me that thought walkers were friends, that's the side of me that killed those people who were attacking Tyreese, that fed the rets, killed the rodents, that chipmunk, …mom…"

"I know what you mean…" Carl said softly. He remembered how he shot that kid from Woodbury right in front of Hershel and Beth.

"Then you would know that I'm scared… I'm scared that the next time that side of me comes out…all hell will break loose… And then what would Mika think of me? What would mom think of me?"

Lizzie continued to silently cry as Carl briefly bowed his head down. After a while, he got up, went to the kitchen and put his bowl away. He walked back in and went back to Lizzie, who nodded, so Carl took her bowl and put it back to the kitchen as well. He then went back to Lizzie and squatted beside her. He stroked her hair behind her ear so that he could see her face.

"Your mother's proud of you Lizzie. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise." He told her.

Lizzie smiled and sniffed out a small laugh.

"Hey." Carl whispered as he wiped the tears from her eye. "No matter what happens, I'll be here. I'm not gonna shut you out, not again… Never again…"

Lizzie turned her head a little bit to face him so that he could see her smile at him. Carl responded by gently kissing her on the forehead.

"You know we still haven't gotten that board game…" Carl perked up.

Lizzie looked up at Carl. "We can try tomorrow." She responded, making her own attempt at perking up.

"Alrighty then." He quipped, and he proceeded to go upstairs.

Lizzie took a few moments to just sit and think about what had just happened.

**x**

Lizzie slept soundly that night. She had a certain feeling of peace. But while the sleeping had gone well, the waking up may have gone a little better. The sounds of metal clanging filled the morning air, or at least hers. The sounds were distant, so they didn't exactly wake her up. What did wake her up though, was the sound of Carl whisper-shouting a reserved "Dammit!". Indeed, she found that Carl wasn't beside her on the bed, and decided that it was time for her to wake up anyway. She walked along the halls of the house, and the sound of the metal was getting a little bit louder. She went to the house's bathroom, looked out the window, and saw Carl repeatedly throwing a knife at a tree. He was trying to get it to stick, but it would just bounce off. Lizzie lightly laughed and decided to join him. She opened the bathroom door to leave, but noticed that she opened it the same way going out as she did going in. Curious, she then tried to open the door the other way, and found that it also opened. It was a revolving door.

"Nice." She quickly remarked, and she proceeded to join Carl outside.

Once again, Carl threw the knife at the tree, but it just bounced off of it. He snorted in frustration before going to retrieve it, his hand touching his holstered gun just in case.

"Smart of you to have your gun ready." She called out. "We really are in a box of chocolates now." She quipped as Carl made his way back to her.

"I'm surprised you even know that movie… I don't even think Beth was born when it came out…"

"Well, my mom was quite a film geek. She had all of the Oscar acting award winners memorized, from the 20s all the way up to… I think she managed to pass some of it to me."

"Really? Oscar winner, Best Actress, 1968."

"Uhhhmmm… Hold on. Hold on… There were two winners! Barbra Streisand and Katherine Hepburn! Only tie in Best Actress history…  
"Well…am I right?"

"…I don't know…" Carl teased.

"Oh my God! Then why'd you even ask?" Lizzie playfully questioned.

"I'll be honest. To mess with your brain!" Carl joked, as Lizzie crossed her arms and gleefully rolled her eyes. Was this another bad joke she was hearing?

Carl then once again threw his knife, but it bounced off the tree again.

"Fuuuck." He groaned, and he went again to retrieve it.

"Karma!" Lizzie called after him.

"Boooo!" Carl teased back, and he brought the knife and went back into position.

"You're not standing right. You have to put your left leg in front."

"What?"

"You have to put your left leg in front. Your dominant foot has to be behind."

Carl followed suit and changed his stance.

"So how do you know this?"

"That wasn't adrenaline with the chipmunk last night, that was Carol's training… You know…the one you walked in on…"

"Yeeesss." He interrupted.

Lizzie giggled and Carl couldn't help but find that cute. She then moved to adjust Carl's arm.

"Raise your arm so that it's perpendicular to the ground…there." She finished adjusting his position.  
"Now when you throw, shift your weight from your right leg to the left, and make sure to swing your forearm forward. _Don't _swing it like a baseball." She advised.  
"Knives were my favorite." She responded to Carl's inquisitive gaze, and she let go of his arm and moved back.  
"Alright. Give it a try."

And Carl threw the knife, but it bounced off again.

"…Yup. That's what happened with me the first time around… Really. It takes awhile. Now try again with mine." She said, handing Carl her knife.

"Remember everything I said?"

"Yep." And Carl took his stance once more. He didn't throw yet, however.

"…Aaany minute now…" Lizzie sarcastically quipped.

"Hold on! …I'm nervous…"

Eventually, Carl did throw the knife, and it hit the tree and stuck. A wide smile formed on Carl's face.

"YES!" He shouted. Lizzie immediately took it upon herself to punch him stiffly in the shoulder.

"There are walkers here! Remember?"

"Oh yeah… Sorry… Holy cow! I actually did it!"

"You did! Looks pretty sweet!"

"How about you? You remember my shooting lessons?"

"Well," Lizzie went to the tree and took the knife "technically I knew how already, but I kinda forgot it, then you retaught me." She said as she carved a bull's-eye.

"Let's just hope I remember." She said as she walked back to Carl, pocketing her knife and giving Carl's back to him. She took out her gun, with the cylindrical silencer fastened tightly on it, replaced her ammo, with rubber bullets and took aim. She shot and the suppressed sound of the gunshot was followed by the bull's-eye on the tree getting hit dead center.

"Alright!" She said excitedly. "Still got it!"

"Yeah!" Carl replied.

Suddenly though, they heard a scream in the distance. Without a word, they both raced to where they heard it. They ran all the way to a forested area, as the screams were accompanied by the sound of a gunshot. They found a woman, possibly in her late 20s or early 30s, who may or may not pass as Carl and Lizzie's mother. She was running from a group of zombies, but by the time Lizzie and Carl reached her, it was too late. They saw a gun lying on the ground as one walker grabbed her and bit deeply into her neck. Lizzie watched in horror and tried to call out to the walkers to distract them from the woman. But it was no use. Another walker came and bit her right on the shoulder. Lizzie yelled at them once again, but they were just too focused on the other woman. More walkers began to gather towards the woman. Just thinking about what they would do to her incredibly disturbed Lizzie. But her calling out to her was no use. So she did the only she thing she could do, and removed her silencer and fired a round to the air. This caught the walkers' attention and they left the other woman began to move towards her. Lizzie ran back, quickly removing the rubber bullets and reinserting her ammo and silencer. Carl ran to her side and they gunned down the group of walkers. They caught their breath, but suddenly another walker crept up behind them. Carl quickly put his gun on the walker's chin and shot it dead. But just as he did, he and Lizzie heard the woman shout again. Another walker was making its way towards the bitten woman, and it began to bend down towards her.

"No!" Lizzie shouted, and she quickly grabbed her knife and flung it at the walker, hitting it right in its head. She immediately ran to the woman, took back her knife from the walker's skull, and tended to her.

"Oh my God! Oh my God!" Lizzie didn't know what else to say. The woman was beginning to hyperventilate.

"It's okay! It's okay!" Was all Lizzie could say, and she wasn't even sure she meant it.

"They're…they're…they're coming." The woman weakly told Lizzie.

"It's okay. It's okay. They're not gonna hurt you anymore." Lizzie continued to try and comfort the woman, as Carl made his way to the two of them.

"Be…be careful… They're coming…" She advised again. Lizzie and Carl looked at each other perplexedly at this.

"When I'm…when I'm gone," she continued, grabbing Lizzie's arm "shoot me. Don't let me come back as one of them." She said faintly. Lizzie sadly nodded.

The woman did her best to form a smile, and then eventually she gave out. She closed her eyes for the final time. Lizzie was completely shaken by this, and she started to breathe uneasily as well. Her eyes began to water again.

"I'm sorry this happened to you… I'm sorry." Both she and Carl knew that this resembled something very familiar to Lizzie.

Finally, Lizzie took her gun and lifted the woman to her as best as she could.

"I'm sorry." She said one last time, and she shot the woman in the head.

Lizzie continued to kneel by the woman's side and placed her free hand on her mouth as she continued to breath heavily and let the tears flow. She looked up and saw Carl looking sadly but reassuringly at the woman, and then at her. He walked around to her and extended his hand. Lizzie took it, and he helped her up. With concern in his eyes, Carl softly asked Lizzie if she was good, to which she nodded and softly said yeah. The two then proceeded to walk out. Hand in hand.

Some distance away though, a herd was on the move. There must have been 50, 60 of them, maybe even 100… And they were all headed straight for where Carl and Lizzie were, possibly attracted by the sound of the woman's gunshot. They were still rather far away… But eventually...they would get there.


	4. Miracles

The downpour from the previous night had been rather strong, which needless to say, did not sit well with Carol. She had been following an already faded set of footprints within the forest. With the strong rains of last night, the soil once again became whole and free of any markings. It was like nature had pressed the reset button. It was quite a wonder of nature, but for her, it was nothing more than an inconvenience.

Whether or not she was desperate or determined though, she still kept going. She and Tyreese still kept following the path they at least thought they had remembered walking in.

"It's no use Carol. The tracks are completely gone." Tyreese tried to reason.

"We've been through here before." She asserted.

"You don't know that!"

"There!" Carol replied almost immediately after. "You see this tree?" She went to a tree that had a hole in it, pointing it out.

"We've crossed it before! We caught a squirrel by it once!" She asserted with a sympathetic and determined look. "We've been through here… And so has she!"

Carol continued walking straight with Tyreese following after her…not with her.

"Carol, it's been God knows how long already! The tracks are gone and she hasn't turned up dead or alive since…she could be dead…she could be somewhere else… But she's not here."

"You don't know that!" Carol hissed. She then boldly motioned towards Tyreese to face him. "And weren't you the one who said that she'd be fine? That we'd find her!?"

"That was then." He said sadly. "…This is now."

"…So you're saying we should just give up?"

"We can't be chasing a ghost Carol…"

"And what are we gonna tell Mika!?"

"…The truth…"

"The truth that we left Lizzie out there to _die_!?"

"We're not letting her die, we know she's tough!"

"But _how_!? How tough is she!? Look at this! Look at all of that!" She gestured at the long path straight ahead. "Do you really think she can run that far!?"

"Either she could or she couldn't."

Carol squinted her eyes at hearing this.

"…You know Ryan told me to take care of Lizzie and Mika when he died… And I promised him that I would do everything I could to keep them safe! You're making me break that promise!"

"No Carol. You _are _doing everything you can. You're doing the very best you can… But I'm sorry… It just isn't enough this time…

"Look, I wish Lizzie hadn't been frightened and I wish she hadn't run off, and I take full responsibility for that! But she's gone Carol. And we have four more children to take care of, including a baby. We have to do what's right!"

But Carol had a death look on her face. "What's right is to _find Lizzie_! Or are you gonna give up on her like a _fucking _coward?" Tyreese was taken aback.

"…Now let's go!"

But the look on Tyreese's face changed from a look of shock to a look of anger.

"_I'm_ the coward?" He called after, and Carol stopped in her tracks and looked back.

"_I'm_ the one who 'gives up'? Like I gave up on Karen? And on David? 'Cause I didn't decide right off the bat to kill them?"

"Are you calling _me _a coward?" She softly shot back, approaching Tyreese again.

"No." He immediately replied. "I just think you give up. Like you gave up on them…"

"I did what I had to do."

"No you didn't." He instantly responded. "They could have lived Carol… You know that as much as I."

They were face to face now, their eyes piercing each other's without even blinking.

"I'm just saying you don't have the right to say I give up…" He finally said, his expression and tone unchanging. "Now let's go back."

Tyreese broke the eye contact and headed back towards the house. Carol though, stayed where she was, her eyes fixed on Tyreese. She then took her gun from her pocket and focused her gaze at it now. It was small, but it packed quite a punch. Perhaps she could put it to Tyreese's head and not remove it until he turned around, she thought. 'Cause God knows he won't do it by himself, or let her continue to search on her own, for that matter.

But just as she was deciding what to do, her train of thought was interrupted by the sounds of a gun firing. It came right from the direction Tyreese was going. Where the house was. It took just a second for Carol and Tyreese to start running. What could be happening, they thought. As they ran closer, they heard screams. And once they ran back close enough to the house, they found where the screams came from, and the reason why. There was a horde of walkers, scratching and surrounding at the house, their house. Somehow the snarling corpses knew that there were three children and a baby hiding in the house, and they wanted, only ever wanted, a meal. From where they were standing, Tyreese and Carol could hear Judith's screeching cries.

"Carol! Tyreese! Help!" Mika frantically shouted out.

"What do we do?" Carol asked as she and Tyreese watched from their distance.

"There're too many of them." Tyreese observed. There must have been around 50 or 60 of them in the horde. He thought as best as he could on how to handle the situation.

"I'll draw as many of them back as I can!" He finally offered. "You circle around and take out the rest!"

Carol quickly nodded and ran out of the forest to the front of the house as Tyreese grabbed his rifle and shot one of the surrounding walkers. It went down instantly, blood squirting out of its head as it was shout, and the others beside it noticed the sound and looked to Tyreese its source. He went and shot another one until more of them, a respectable number of them, noticed and turned their attention to him. Tyreese then started swinging his arm.

"Come on! Come and get it!" He bellowed, and he soon ran back to the forest with the walkers following after.

At the front, Carol shot some walkers herself. Her gun was small; it didn't produce as loud a sound as she hoped it would. And while some walkers were beginning to notice and approach her, it wasn't as many as she would have hoped. And then, she saw the walkers directly at the front door break through it. There was a barricade of some sort preventing them from entering, but the large portions of the wooden door were beginning to collapse. Carol was desperate. She couldn't think of anything else, so she did the only thing she could think of. She breathed in and screamed at the very top of her lungs for as long as she could. And it paid off. The remaining walkers surrounding the house all noticed her, and began their approach. Carol took aim and fired her gun at the oncoming walkers. She shot every walker that was close enough. She remembered how, right before she saw Sophia emerge from the barn, there was a massive shootout where all the walkers in it were gunned down one by one. That is what she was thinking about as she fired her gun. But it then dawned on her that during that shootout, there were more people firing guns…and fewer walkers.

Tyreese ran as far away as he could, as far away from the house as possible, taking the walkers whose attention he had caught along with him. Eventually, he decided that he had run far enough, and turned around and opened fire. He had managed to kill a few walkers before running out of ammo. Did he not restock before leaving, he asked himself. But it soon occurred to him that there wasn't much extra ammo to stock up on in the first place. With the walkers approaching, Tyreese resorted to hitting them with the blunt rifle and then switching to his hammer. He hammered practically everything that moved, but it seemed like they just kept coming. Was the herd _that _big, or were there some more coming from the forest, he asked himself. Carol continued shooting at the walkers approaching her. She was taking them down with ease, but the numbers were starting to factor in. If the number of walkers was not bad enough, as fate would have it, Carol, just like Tyreese, ran out of ammunition. Since her tiny revolver wasn't an adequate blunt object, she immediately pocketed it and took out her bowie knife. She stabbed one walker, and then another, but she then found that some of them were too close. Desperate, she then took out her machete and immediately fought her way through the herd, trying to get to open space where she wasn't surrounded. Tyreese continued to hammer down any walker that was coming his way, as Carol sliced the head off of one walker. But as she did, another walker ambushed her from the side. Carol wrestled with it, pressing her arm to its neck. There was no one to help her as far as she knew, with Tyreese preoccupied with fighting for his life against the group of walkers that was starting to close in on him, and Mika and the others stuck in the house. She was able to kick the walker off her, and then sliced her machete across its skull. But the blade was stuck, and as Carol tried to pry it off, another walker had gotten dangerously close and lunged at her. Carol instinctively let go of the machete, and fell back. She was on the ground. Tyreese was still fighting for his life. They were both cornered.

The other walker was still close enough to Carol to lunge at her, but just as it was about to do just that, a bullet went through its head. And then another. And another bullet hit the head of another walker. And then another walker. Walker after walker was getting pelted with bullets. Red stains began appearing on them faster than Carol could keep track of, and she immediately took cover. She looked behind her and saw Rick Grimes armed with a semiautomatic rifle, rapidly firing at the horde. He began advancing towards it, and it seemed as if for every step forward he took, a walker was shot in the head. He kept moving forward until he was already ahead of Carol, firing his weapon and killing walkers, almost as if right out of an action movie. Walker after walker fell until none were left standing.

"Rick" Carol breathed out.

"Where's Tyreese?" He asked simply but firmly.

After a few seconds of taking in what had just happened, she answered.

"…He's in the forest. At the back of the house."

And with a small nod, Rick headed off towards that direction.

Carol watched him run off, and then remembered.

"…Mika!" She immediately ran back towards the house, stepping over the gunned down walkers that had lunged at her and come close to devouring her just a few moments ago.

Rick ran as fast as he could to reach Tyreese. He ran with amazing speed, considering the arsenal of weapons he had on him. He followed the sounds of grunts and snarls until finally catching up to Tyreese.

"Tyreese!" Rick shouted out to him and tossed him a machete. Tyreese caught it and in one blunt swing, sliced the heads off of two walkers. Rick joined Tyreese at his side, took out his knife and stabbed another walker. Rick then took Tyreese's hammer and joined Tyreese in slicing through the horde. Every walker that approached found itself at the receiving end of a blunt blow of a hammer or a sharp slice of a blade. Walker after walker came down until all had been terminated. Then finally, one last walker tried to ambush the men from behind, but Rick simple turned back, took out his Colt Python and shot it.

They stood there for a while, bending down with their hands on their knees, as they were catching their breaths. Eventually, Rick took one last deep breath before straightening up.

"You okay?" He asked.

"Yeah."

After another short breather Rick spoke up again. "Let's go back." He said simply.

They made their way out of the forest, back to the road where the other horde of walkers laid motionless.

"You live there?" He asked, pointing to the nearby house. Tyreese nodded.

"I'll move this nearer in." He announced, referring to the car he had drove in. He, in a rather casual manner, placed his rifle in the trunk and then entered the car and drove it a little closer to the house, just before the tires could touch any of the dead walkers. Once Rick had parked, Tyreese went to look at the trunk and saw his weapons arsenal stocked up there.

"Quite the cache you got there." Tyreese remarked.

"Found a guns and ammunitions store on the way. And then another one, with blades. I got blocked by walkers and had to detour. Maybe it was a blessing in disguise…"

"And the Governor? Last time I saw you, you were taking him on."

"He's dead." Rick immediately responded. "He overpowered me. Pinned me to the ground and beat me half to death. He was gonna strangle me… And then Michonne, she got to him and stabbed him. I went back to the prison, found Carl, and next thing we saw, was him, lying on the ground with a bullet in his head."

"And what about y-"

"I'm healed." Rick answered immediately.

"Rick," Carol came out from inside the house, having removed the couch barricade. "Come inside." She said in a rather sweet tone.

Rick proceeded to enter the house with Tyreese, and when he came in, he saw Mika standing there. She stood stiff and straight, and she had something resembling a smile on her face. She was carrying a white bundle, and it was lingering in her arms. It may have been a bundle, but to Rick, it was more than just that…it was his bundle of joy… It was Judith.

The tough and fierce Rick that had come to Tyreese and Carol's rescue had disappeared now. In his place, was an emotional man. A vulnerable man. He moved his body sparingly and repeatedly placed his hand to and from his mouth, taking in the moment, trying to control his emotions. Finally, he went and Mika gave Judith to him, and he held in her in his arms. Rick was breathing heavily. He could cry, which would be understandable given the moment. Carol, Tyreese and Mika smiled brightly. They were happy for Rick. Happy that he was happy. Happy that they were seeing happiness in front of them, because that's something they didn't see too often.

But the moment was ruined for Carol when she noticed something.

"Where's Luke?" She asked. And everyone except Judith turned to her. "Molly?"

Having hid in the other room with Judith when the walker horde attacked, Mika in fact, did not know where they were. She frantically ran upstairs with Carol following. They ran to the room that Mika saw them run into and hide in, but they saw what they feared they would see: nothing. No one. Nothing except an open window.

**x**

"We picked those things off one by one, they couldn't have possibly gotten to them." Tyreese argued. He, Carol, Mika and Rick were gathered around the living room, with Judith lingering in Rick's arms.

"It was a big herd, we couldn't have possibly deterred them _all_." Carol pointed out.

"And I arrived practically at the last minute. If the two ran off before then, some of them might've gone after them." Rick added.

"So what are you saying? They're _dead_?" Mika emphatically asked.

"We're not saying anything Mika." Rick replied. "We're just…we're just preparing ourselves for the worst."

"We've seen it happen before." Carol softly added, and Rick looked at her. They both knew exactly what she was talking about.

"We _are_ going to look for them right?" Mika asked.

"Of course we are."

"We just need to make a game plan first." Tyreese added. "Look, they obviously ran off somewhere we couldn't see them and maybe, hopefully, they left bread crumbs."

"If we can find leads, distinct leads, then maybe it won't be as hard to find them." Carol assessed.

"But we're gonna have to split the work." Tyreese directed his words at her. "We still need to look for Lizzie." Carol nodded at this, as if showing renewed faith.

"Whoa! Whoa! Wait! I…" Rick spoke up.

"Rick." She interrupted. "You should go back upstairs. You must be exhausted."

"Yeah, but look. Carol,"

"It's okay. We can sort this out. We'll let you know when we have a plan."

"…You sure? I'm a cop, and we _are _looking for missing people…"

"We've learned a thing or two." She smiled. "Now come on. Get some rest. Be with your daughter…"

Rick gave her a look of consideration. He then turned to Tyreese, and then to Mika. They both gave him the same look at Carol gave him.

"Thank you." He nodded, and he proceeded to move for the stairs. He was at the foot of the staircase, when he briefly looked back.

"You don't have to worry about Lizzie. She's a tough kid."

"I know that." Carol replied. "I just hope she doesn't end up like…like…"

"No I said it wrong. Lizzie's tough. She fought through the forest the whole night. She's with me now." He said, causing everyone's facial expressions to change.

"She's alive?" Mika shakily asked, and Rick nodded. Mika looked to the ground in absolute shock.

"Wait…wait…" Carol started. "If she's with you and you're here then-"

"Carl's with her… Don't worry. She's safe. Like I said she's a tough kid."

And after one last nod, Rick proceeded upstairs.

Carol and Tyreese went just outside the house and investigated the surroundings for any leads. The perimeter was already full of footprints, with many of them already in varied directions. They needed to look through every set. What was worse was that it was already dark, so they had to search with flashlights.

"What made you change your mind?" Carol asked Tyreese.  
"What do you mean?"

"About Lizzie? About going out and looking for her? Even though we don't exactly have to look for her anymore…"

Tyreese stopped for a second, and then looked to her.

"How could we have known that Rick would turn up like that? I mean, we were cornered, we were under attack, and then he came… He saved us."

"…Maybe not all of us." Carol lamented.

"But it could have been none of us." Tyreese immediately replied. "Him coming, saving us…it was a miracle! And then seeing him reunited with Judith again, then finding out that Lizzie was alive…all miracles! …I believe again! I believe that miracles can happen!" Tyreese professed. Carol smiled and pondered at his words.

Rick went inside one of the rooms and sat down on the rocking chair there. He held Judith up, so that she was looking directly at him, and him at her. He smiled brightly at her. It wasn't too long ago that he thought she was dead, that she was gone. And now she was with him again, his precious daughter, safe in his arms. It was a miracle. Rick was looking at a miracle. Judith then began lingering and motioning to the floor. Rick knew what she meant and gently put her down and let her crawl. Sitting on the rocking chair, Rick watched over his daughter as she played around, just like any father with an infant child would. For the first time in a long time, Rick could finally just be a father.

Outside, Tyreese and Carol were joined by Mika and they finally found what they were looking for. Tyreese flashed his light at two sets of footprints that were small and continued outwards facing away from the house.

"We begin searching at dawn." Tyreese announced, as the three continued observing the footprints. They could be Luke and Molly's prints. Or maybe they weren't… Either way, they were worth looking at. And what was sure to Carol, Tyreese, Mika, and once he found out, Rick, was that these prints were being watched. But what the four didn't know, was that somewhere a little deeper in the forest, by a man and his gang, so were they.

* * *

**A/N: So what did you think? No Carl and Lizzie in this chapter, but did you like it anyway? If you didn't, don't worry! They'll be back for the next one! And just to clarify, Carol and co. are now being watched by a gang. And no, that gang isn't the one from season 4 with Joe, but it does take inspiration from that group.**


	5. 50-50

**I finally updated! SO SORRY for taking so long! I was actually hoping I would get this in, a week after uploading my previous chapter (believe it or not...). Well, that's college for 'ya! And that's House of Cards, Big Cat Diary, and Walking Dead Netflix marathons for 'ya as well! So I made this one nice and long, and hopefully you'll enjoy it. If you happen to not know how Snakes and Ladders works, then I'll have to apologize in advance if you get confused!**

* * *

The herd had come together some time ago. The circumstances were unknown to anyone who had seen it, whether or not he or she lived through such an encounter. But what was known was that it travelled great distances in search of anything to eat. It travelled through abandoned cities, countrysides and roads, moving forward and lifelessly all the way unless anything that could be food caught its attention. Otherwise, it wouldn't let up for anything. Not for bees and flies swarming right at it and its decaying members, not for any strong wooden and barbed wired fences blocking its way, not for a roadside full of abandoned, supplied, cars, including one which strangely had its engine running and what looked like a crossbow pointing out of its slightly ajar trunk, nothing. Its drive was so strong and it had been on the move for so long that some were beginning to decay as they moved. Some even simply collapsed as their bones or whatever was left of their skin just gave way. But while they walked lifelessly and somewhat aimlessly most of the time, any overt sign of human activity, any loud noises, were met with the greatest of interest. At times, they would indeed find an unsuspecting person and outnumbered group, and they would feast. Such was the case with a camp. They killed and ate several people from that camp, while some others ran away. One of those who ran away, a woman who looked to be in her late 20s or early 30s, who was the last to run, shot one of the walkers, but that shot got the attention of all the others. She ran as far away as she could, into the forest, but with the herd following right after…

**x**

The sun was up, and Lizzie opened her eyes to the shining bright light. She had found it rather cold last night, but luckily she and Carl were able to find a nice sweater on their run. And with the beams of the sun shining down on her and her sweater layering her body, needless to say, she felt like she was being wrapped with warmth. But while she felt like she was being wrapped with warmth, she also felt like she was being wrapped, period. She then found out why as she noticed an arm indeed wrapped around her chest. She then recognized the feeling of a body pressing itself on her back and a head breathing in and out close to the back of hers. She couldn't help but smile to herself as the last time Carl held her the way he was doing now was when she was terrified and exhausted after her ordeal the previous night. She remembered how relaxed she had slowly felt herself becoming because of his soothing words and his protective, intimate embrace. Aside from feeling relaxed though, she also felt something else in that moment. That feeling on the other hand, she found that even up to now, she couldn't really describe it. She smiled as Carl himself began to stir awake.

"Hi." Lizzie said sweetly.

"Hi." Carl replied in the same tone, but him being him, in a much deeper voice.

"…Watcha doing?" She playfully asked.

Carl then noticed that Lizzie noticed the kind of position they were in.

"Um…stuff…"

Lizzie giggled. "Really? 'Stuff'? What else are you doing then? Things?"

"Hey, hey." Carl laughed. "I'm just keeping you warm. Your teeth were practically vibrating last night…for some reason…"

Unlike Lizzie, Carl didn't really find himself as bothered by the weather last night. While Lizzie wore a sweater to bed, he was simply in a long-sleeved t-shirt.

"Well, that's what we got the sweater for. And you don't exactly strike me as the overdoing type."

With just her soft words, Lizzie had backed Carl into a corner, at least that's what he felt she had done. It looked like he was going to have to explain the _real _reason he had Lizzie with him the way he had her now. Though he didn't show it, Carl was starting to get rather anxious.

"Your breath smells like shit, by the way." Lizzie suddenly added. And they briefly laughed and Lizzie got up out of the bed, effectively closing this topical discussion.

* * *

The sun was up, but it hadn't exactly illuminated the area the way it normally would later in the day. There was still a tiny bit of a yellow hue in the area, which was typical of that time period of the day when dawn slowly began to transition into day. Carol, Tyreese, Rick and Mika stood just outside their base house, looking over at the set of footprints they had found last night. Judith was bundled up in a baby carrier Carol had found on one of her runs. Rick squatted down and looked more closely at the tiny prints.

"You didn't notice any walkers their size?"

"As far as we know." Tyreese replied. "Either way, it's best we follow them."

"It's the best lead we've got." Carol added.

They followed the prints. They had gotten a certain distance following them when they noticed that the two sets of prints began to separate themselves from each other.

"Walkers must've added up… They ran in different directions from here. The tracks go on…" Rick observed, noting that the continued separation of the prints.

"You think they planned it? Told each other they'd split up so that fewer walkers could follow them?" Mika asked.

"I can't say for sure…" Rick replied. "Might not seem likely if they didn't have weapons on them."

"They did." Mika instantly told him. "At least I didn't see anything in their rooms."

"You think they know how to use them?" Rick asked turning to Carol.

"I taught them the best I could…"

Though Tyreese didn't understand the exchange Rick and Carol had just then, he didn't pursue the matter. He had bigger fish to fry.

"We'll split up." He announced. "Rick and Carol take the ones to the left, Mika and I head right."

* * *

"So…Snakes and Ladders." Lizzie set down the board game that she and Carl had been looking for and had finally found yesterday. "…Still remember how to play this?"

"Yeah, why?" Carl replied as he helped Lizzie set it up.

"Well, it's been only…two years since you probably last played with it…"

"Lizzie, this game _was _my childhood. Even the end of the world won't make me forget it. In fact, I almost feel sorry for you since you'll have to play against me…"

Lizzie playfully rolled her eyes. "I played this game too you know…"

Giggling, they finished setting up the game.

"Rock, paper, scissors. Who gets to roll first?" Carl called, and he and Lizzie played the fateful mini-game. Lizzie clenched her fist for rock, while Carl showed his palm to signal papers. A sly grin crept up on Carl's face.

"But…but…rock always wins!" Lizzie voiced out.

"Not this time it didn't…" Carl teased back.

"But I thought I…but it said…I remember hearing on some show that you should always use rock!"

"I saw that show too…" Carl casually replied, and Lizzie put two and two together.

"…You son of a bitch." She jokingly cursed at him. Carl gleefully poked at his temple in response.

"Guess I get to roll first. Remember, you have to roll a 6 before getting on the board."

"I know…"

Carl smiled, and he rolled. It was a 6. With a silent, gloating smile, Carl put his piece on the starting square of the board.

"All right," Lizzie confidently began "…my turn!" Lizzie shook the dice in her hands for a few seconds, and then role. The dots on the dice added up to a 2.

"Woo hoo…!" Carl sarcastically remarked in a singsong falsetto that, given the nature of his voice, sounded rather screechy.

"Shut up." Lizzie quickly replied.

"All right. Now watch the master."

Lizzie snorted as Carl picked up the dice and rolled. They added up to an 11.

"Booyah!" He cheered, as he directed his piece through the 11 squares, the last of which had a ladder etched on it. Carl gleefully carried his piece up, bringing it all the way to square 31.

"You're just getting lucky!" Lizzie playfully asserted.

"Nope! I've just got the dice rolling skills! Told 'ya I'm the master…" He teased.

"Whatever…" She softly said, forming a W with her fingers. She picked up the dice and rolled again. The dots added to a 5.

"What!?"

Carl began laughing wildly at Lizzie's misfortune.

"Shut up Carl!"

Carl continued to laugh. He had laughed for a rather long period of time, and Lizzie just positioned her lips to make herself look unimpressed. After regaining his composure, Carl picked up the dice again for his next roll.

"If this ends up taking me down a peg, it's your fault." He joked, and with a teasing look at Lizzie, he blew into his hands and threw out the dice, which indicated a 5. Carl brought his piece up 5 boxes, landing it on box 36, which had a large ladder on it. "Oh yeah!" Carl brought his piece up the ladder, putting it now on box 62.

"You gotta be kidding me…"

"C'mon Liz! It's just a game!" He teased. "Don't get your panties in a bunch."

Without a word, Lizzie took the dice again and rolled. With a sigh, she threw the dice to the board. They rolled a 6.

"Finally! Third time's the charm!" She cheered, raising her arms and speaking as if she were worshipping.

"Well Lizzie, looks you're finally coming…on board!" Carl slowly joked, painfully emphasizing the punch line.

"…Don't ruin the moment…"

"Fine." Carl immediately replied with a scoff. He then took the dice and rolled again. The two dice added up to an 8.

"Looking good!" Carl moved the pieces up, bringing them up to box 70, and again, it had a large ladder on it.

"Three straight, baby!" He cheered as he brought his piece up all the way to box 94. "Almost there…" Carl teased.

"Don't get cocky now!" Lizzie sassed back. "'Cause I'm feeling lucky!" She said as she rolled the dice. They added to a 5. She daintily put her piece up to box 5.

"Oh yeah…that 5 will take you long way…" Carl sarcastically quipped.

"Hey! It's a good start! It ain't over 'till it's over."

"Well, sorry to crush your little pocket of hope you're oh so clinging to, but I'm gonna go and put the final nail in the coffin now." He quipped.

Carl shook the dice in his hand, and he let them go, and they added to a 5. Carl moved his piece to square 99. It was just one more box away from the box 100 that would win him the game. But it was also a box with a snake on it.

"Oh shit." Carl swore as he rode his piece down the snake and down to box 79.

"Yeah… That 5 will take me a long way!" Lizzie wittily remarked.

Carl just looked up at her in mock contempt and brushed a smile at her.

"I'd like to see you do better then." He challenged her.

"Challenge accepted." She rolled the dice, and they indicated a 7. She brought her piece up to box 12. It had a ladder on it, and she brought her piece up to box 28. "Challenge completed." She said with a wink. Carl stuck his tongue out at her.

"See, I was generous enough to give you a good run so you wouldn't feel bad about yourself, but yeah. No more Mr. Nice Guy!" He declared as Lizzie rolled her eyes.

He rolled the dice, and they combined their dots for a 3. Carl moved his piece, bringing it up to box 82. But it too had a snake on it, and it was quite large. It brought his piece all the way down to box 59.

"WWWHHHAAATTT!?" Carl roared.

"C'mon Carl! It's just a game… No need to get your panties in a bunch." She slyly told him while raising an eyebrow.

"…Shut up…" He replied quickly. "Let's see you do better!"

"You mean like I did last time?" Lizzie began to roll the dice. "You mean like what I'm gonna do now!?" She exclaimed her last words as she threw out the two dice.

They combined for an 8. She brought her piece up to box 36, and it had a large ladder on it that brought Lizzie's piece all the way up to box 62, right on top of Carl's piece. Lizzie's mouth widened in happy excitement as she faced Carl.

"Not one word…"

"Well Carl, guess who's coming out…on top!" She smiled.

"…No Lizzie. Bad jokes are my thing. And that kinda came out wrong by the way…" He began to roll the dice, and once he brought them out, they added to a 12.

"Oh yeah! Looking good!" He began navigating his piece. "Well, Lizzie, your comeback was admirable, but I'm afraid I'm gonna have to take you…"

But before he complete his sentence, he found that his piece landed on box 71, where there was yet another large snake. It brought his piece all the way to box 46.

"…down." Lizzie finished the sentence as Carl shamefully brought his piece to its new position. Carl furrowed his eyebrows and pursed his lips into a ball-like shape as he glared at Lizzie and her contrasting perky expression, as if holding his tongue.

"…...Dreet." He finally broke the silent stare down. Lizzie just gave him a confused look to which Carl just quickly raised his furrowed eyebrows.

"I'm about to freak out…" She simply said to herself as she rolled the dice once more. The dice rolled to a 3, bringing her to box 65.

"Okay! Your turn!" She cheerfully said.

"Come on! Give me something good here… Please!" Carl rolled the dice, and they landed a 6. He brought his piece to box 52… It too had a snake.

"God dammiiiitttt!" Carl cursed to the wind as he brought his piece down to box 37.

"Wow… Four straight snakes. I don't think anyone's ever had that many in a single…"

"SHUT. YOUR FUCKING…UP!"

"What…?"

"Oh wait! Shit! That didn't come out right!" But it was too late. Lizzie began laughing hysterically, lying on the ground, tightly grasping her stomach, and kicking to the air. She sounded like a mix between a hyena and a baboon, but Carl was too embarrassed to notice, much less point out.

"O…Okay, my turn!" Lizzie took the dice, desperately gasping for air. She rolled the dice, tongue out and touching her front teeth in enjoyment, and released. The dice combined for a 5. She brought it 5 steps to box 70. And once again, it was a box with a ladder. And it was a big ladder at that, bringing her piece all the way up to box 94.

"Woo hoo!" Lizzie cheered in excitement. "Now Carl, if you wanna catch up to me, you can't get another sn-"

"I know goddammit!" Carl literally growled out, sounding like he was trying to make his best impression of a bear. He began rolling his dice, his lower teeth touching his upper lip as he did.

"Ooh! I wanna see this!" Lizzie moved up behind Carl to watch the roll turnout from his point of view. Carl released the dice and it landed on a 10. He began to move his piece around.

"I swear to God, if this makes me go down another snake, Imma cut a bitch!" He said. He moved his piece 10 boxes to box 47… It had a snake on it. Lizzie began to laugh as Carl began wildly spreading his arms.

"SON OF A…" But as he swore and swung, he felt his arm hit something hard and emit a soft thud. He turned and saw Lizzie spinning around and swinging her hair around while exclaiming in surprise. He had accidentally hit her.

"Oh shit! Lizzie!" He ran to her, grabbed her by the shoulders and straightened her up. He saw blood begin to trickle down from her nose.

"Oh shit!"

"Am I bleeding? Holy cow! Am I bleeding?" Lizzie asked, with what sounded like a bit of excitement.

"Yeah… It's pretty damn bad if you ask me…" Carl assessed.

"It is? Oooh! I don't remember the last time I had a nosebleed! I remember thinking that people who would bleed were badasses! I mean, not like I always tried to see myself bleed…or other people bleed…" She chattered on. "Can I see?"

"Forget that, I'm gonna go get you some tissue." And he ran off to look for some.

"Carl…" She tried to call out to him, but he bolted out long before she could. He did kinda leave a bleeding girl by herself. She pinched her nose and held her head up, and as she did, unbeknownst to Carl and to her, she took up an expression that, especially given the blood literally on her hands, one would find rather…deranged. Lizzie then heard footsteps fast approaching and getting louder.

"Oh shit I forgot…" Carl exclaimed as he ran back to the room and got her.

"Hellooo…" Lizzie questioned. And they made a run for the bathroom, with Lizzie still pinching her nose.

* * *

Tyreese and Mika walked through the woods, following the prints that still managed to stay visible.

"So you were gonna give up?" Mika asked breaking the silence they had walked in for a while.

"What do you mean?"

"On Lizzie?"

Tyreese lamented on this, and then lightly but quickly nodded. "…Yeah."

"…Why?"

"Well…I don't even know how long it's been since we last saw her. And let's face it. Back then, before Rick came along…it'd already been…too long."

"You know, you did see her run off." Mika began.

"And I'm the reason she ran off." He said immediately after Mika spoke. "It's pretty much all my fault that she…"

"Tyreese," Mika interrupted "don't. Maybe she did run away from _you_, but it's not all your fault, really."

"What do you mean?"

"Tyreese, all you told us was that you had a fight, and Lizzie got scared and ran. That's it… What exactly happened that night?"

"Mika…"

"Tyreese, don't hold back. I can take it. I've already seen my dad die, my mom die, I got separated from my sister… There isn't much that can…really surprise me now."

Tyreese lamented on her words. Here she was, a girl so young, speaking of the horrors she had seen and been through…the horrors that might have begun to make her cold. As much as he was open to Mika's reasoning, he still had doubts on whether he should tell her and give her even more trauma and more horror, if she didn't have enough already, especially for a girl her age.

"Mika." Tyreese stopped and knelt down to face her. "What happened that night was…it was horrible. And the reasons for its happening, even more so. Are you sure you want me to tell you this?"

"If you think telling me what happened will mess me up, then… Like I said. I've seen a lot already… Maybe I'll think that what happened here was worse, maybe I won't. But I can take it. You shouldn't be worried about me getting messed up; I'm already bad enough as it is."

Tyreese bowed his head down upon hearing this.

"Fine then. I believe you… But Mika, do not make me do something…say something I'm going to regret."

"You won't." She asserted.

Tyreese bowed his head once more before beginning. "In the prison…when people were starting to get ill…you remember that?"

"Yeah… Lizzie got sick too."

Tyreese nodded. "Before it got bad, David started to show signs that he was sick… Karen started showing signs too… We put them in quarantine to separate them from the others. But Carol, she…she didn't want the disease to spread, so…she took matters into her own hands. At least that's what she thought she was doing…"

"What did she do?"

"She…she killed them. Stabbed them and then brought them outback and burned up their corpses."

Mika looked to her side away from Tyreese. She had a somewhat angry, morose expression on her face. Her eyebrows were furrowed and her hair blew in the wind.

"Mika…" Tyreese began, noticing the look on her face, and looked directly at her. "Did I do the right thing, telling you this?"

Mika turned back to Tyreese. "Yes… Yes you did… Thank you."

Tyreese dipped his head briefly again before standing up.

"I remember telling Carol, after she saw Lizzie crying over Nick…a walker at the fence with a nametag, that she was messed up. I guess Carol's messed up too then. Just like her… Just like me…"

"Mika, as much as I'm hurt over what she did, I really hope you don't see Carol…"

"No." She interrupted. "She's all I got. I still see her as that. Nothing changes. It's just good that I know the truth."

"The truth?"

"That Carol's one of us. That she's messed up too… And that's she trying."

"Trying?"

"She's the closest thing I have to a mother now. And for good reasons too. Not just that my dad told her to take care of us. Now I know that she's messed up, but that she's trying to fight it too."

"Fight what? Being messed up?"

"Yeah. I mean she _is_ messed up, and she can do terrible things because of that, but she's fighting that by being a mother to me. She's not losing herself completely… At least she's trying not to. I don't even know if Lizzie has done that… I don't even know if _I've _done that. It paints a bigger picture doesn't it?"

"Yeah I think I know what you mean." Tyreese was putting two and two together. Now that Mika's seen that Carol's messed up, she knows that she isn't some kind of emotional superwoman who magically manages to be normal through all of this. She's someone who's suffering too, and she's done terrible things because of it, like what she told him she did to Karen and David. But through it all, she tries to fight it. Tries to fight being some monster that will kill people in their sleep left and right, and she fights by being the closest thing Mika has to a mother. She's going through a struggle as well, the same struggle Mika says she's going through. But she's fighting. She's trying. And now that Mika knows this, she respects her some more. And maybe he respects her some more now as well.

"So…yeah." Mika continued. "Thank you for telling me."

Tyreese nodded and patted Mika on the head and proceeded to move forward again.

"But…" Mika grabbed his hand. "I am sorry." Tyreese nodded lightly and they began moving again.

"Do you forgive her?" Mika asked.

Tyreese took a long hard moment to think. "…I don't know."

"…I guess that's fair." Mika conceded.

"What about you?" Tyreese then asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Do you forgive me for almost abandoning Lizzie?"

Mika thought about this for a moment. "Well… I did almost give up on her myself… So yeah."

Though Tyreese was rather surprised to hear this, he had to be real.

"I guess that's fair… But let me ask. Do you forgive Carol?"

"…Well I did just hear about this, so I'm not sure myself, all things considered…"

"Do you think you will?"

"…I don't know. But for what it's worth…" Mika briefly stopped and so did Tyreese.

"I don't have to forgive her for what she did… I just have to understand." She then looked down to the ground. "Same goes for Lizzie with us…"

Mika continued moving forward afterwards while Tyreese took a few seconds to take in what she said. He had to admit, he was indeed taken aback by how Mika proved how wise a child could be. He then moved forward as well.

"Luke!" Mika called out.

**x**

"Molly!" Carol also cried out from where she was searching with Rick. "Luke!"

"You think we're doing the right thing?" Rick asked.

"…Of course we are!" Carol replied, a bit offended.

"No. I mean, do you think we're doing the right thing by calling out to them?"

"Well, how else are they supposed to hear us? Or know that we're here?"

"I know that, but if they don't hear us, then maybe a walker will."

"What does it matter? They don't stand a chance against us."

"Well, not one, but maybe a group will. And you're practically on your own. I have a little extra weight on me." He quipped, referring to Judith in his carrier.

"You do make a point." She smiled at Judith. "But we can't exactly discuss this in a council now can we? But I shouldn't underestimate those things, I'm sorry."

"It's fine." Rick decided to explicitly acknowledge. "We're all in a bit of a tight spot now, really."

"Yeah, and those things did get my daughter…"

Rick was taken aback, but he and Carol did not stop walking.

"Right before I…I sent you away. You told me that your daughter…Sophia…was 'somebody else's slide show'. Do you still think that way?"

"I don't let what happened to her run my life Rick. I don't want it to cloud over me every waking moment and make me weak… But that doesn't mean I don't miss her."

"You still do, don't you?" He asked.

"…Everyday." She affirmed. And a short silence ensued.

"If you don't mind my asking, when she died, did you ever think of…? Because God knows I did just after Lori died, and really, I wouldn't be surprised if Carl did too, quite frankly. And we know what Andrea almost did at the CDC when Amy died."

"Well… Immediately after, I don't remember… But just as we were building our community in the prison…I didn't think of doing it myself, I would fight for my life if I felt the need to, but if it were inevitable, if there were nothing I could do about it, I guess I could say I would've…embraced death. But now…no."

"Really? No? Why so?"

"Well, I _am_ responsible for two girls."

"Just that? Responsibility?"

"No, of course not. I love them. They've been the closest things I have to daughters since Sophia… They are a handful, sure, but I guess I have something to live for now because of them."

Rick smiled. "I get what you mean. I have Carl. I have Judith. But I just can't help but wonder though. If this world were to be cruel…if it were to take them away, would I be dead the next day? Would there be a gun in my hand, and would my brains be splattered all over the ground? Is purpose the only thing keeping us alive now?"

"I don't know Rick." Carol replied while looking forward. "But what I can say is that in here, being dead does not necessarily mean being a corpse or a walking corpse. There are fates worth than death, as they say. And my girls, they're my anchors. They keep me from those fates."

Rick nodded. "You're not the same woman I met in that camp in Atlanta. You're so much stronger than that now. I'd like to think that if Ed ever tried to pull anything off on you now,"

"I'd tell him to get the hell out."

"You'd beat his ass to the ground." He replied immediately after, as if correcting her. They laughed briefly at this before concentrating once again on their search.

* * *

Carl pinched the bridge of Lizzie's nose, tissue in hand and had her tilt her head back.

"Man this is a mess." He remarked.

"Well you did say you were gonna cut a bitch if you had to take another snake." Lizzie chimed in, her voice slightly nasal due to the squeeze. There was blood in both of their hands as they tried to work around the nosebleed.

"Wait hold on. You're supposed to _lean forward_." Carl corrected Lizzie and himself and had Lizzie do just that. The blood started to flow a little more though.

"What the hell? You're making it worse!"

"Aww shit! I forgot! You're supposed to lean forward," He started to slightly straighten Lizzie up "_just a little bit_."

"Where do you even get this stuff?"

"I think I read it somewhere on the Internet. I did a _lot _of random browsing back then."

"Hey! So did I!"

"Really? Well I guess you know what it's like to see your parents stomping towards you and then suddenly finding out that it's 2 in the 'goddamn morning'."

"Oh, tell me about that!"

"Okay, you know what, we're in a bathroom. Maybe I can find a nasal spray here or something if it still works. Hold this." He let Lizzie pinch as he checked around.

As Carl rummaged in the bathroom, Lizzie rather comically struggled to keep blood from trickling down her nose.

"Afrin! Perfect!" Carl enthused, bringing the nasal spray to her. "All right! Hold still."

He covered one of her nostrils and put the spray's tip into her other.

"Alright breath in, in 3…2…1…"

Lizzie inhaled the spray. She reacted rather strongly to what she snorted. She was making light sounds that resembled whimpering.

"Oh my God! I think I gotta stand up…"

"Oh come on! Does it sting that bad?"

"No!" She said nasally, and somewhat disoriented. "I don't think that was liquid in that thing!"

Carl opened the bottle and examined its contents. He couldn't help but laugh a little at what was inside.

"Someone was a jackass…" He remarked, handing the open bottle to Lizzie. She saw that the bottle was full of a certain white powder.

"You've got to be kidding me…" She said, right before she and Carl burst out into laughter, Lizzie once again sounding like a dying zebra. Lizzie didn't notice that she wasn't holding her nose.

"Oh shit! My fucking nose!"

She pinched her nose once again and made for the chair, but Carl was unknowingly blocking it.

"Get out of my way!" She called, but things happened so fast that Carl wasn't out of the way by the time she was sitting herself down. She ultimately found herself sitting on Carl's lap and leaning back on him.

"I'll just hold the damn nose before you get any more wonderful ideas!" She insisted as she pinched her nose for a few more moments.

"Hey look! The blood's gone!" She realized. She sighed and relaxed herself as Carl clutched her shoulders, looking at her from over them.

"I think you're supposed to spray before pinching…" He remarked.

"You clearly haven't been on the Internet enough."

"Tell that to my parents... And come on. It's been two years."

"Fair enough…"

Another short silence ensued from then.

"Why do we always end up like this?"

"What do you mean?" Carl asked, confused.

"Like this. I always end up leaning back on you."

Carl took notice of the situation.

"Hmm… Maybe the universe is telling us something." He joked.

"Yeah? Like what...?"

"Like…" But as Carl thought about it, he realized that it was making him feel rather…uncomfortable. In a good way… But in a good way that was also a bad way, he thought to himself. Now he was beginning to confuse himself. Or more precisely his feelings were beginning to confuse him. And he sort of realized that all this confusion came from thinking about a question Lizzie asked that was just three words. Three words. Lizzie found herself uncomfortable as well. Just because of three words. She then realized that she was looking directly into Carl's eyes. With an awkward smile and a light chuckle, she looked away…blushing.

"Are you still angry?" She finally broke the silence.

"What?"

"About…everything?"

"You mean…"

"Yeah."

"Well…I _was_… But yeah, I mean… I've done some pretty bad things too. I _have_ killed people. Maybe it's not fair getting all on you, when I kinda have stuff myself."

"…So does that mean you…forgive me?" She asked.

"…Maybe."

* * *

Carol and Rick kept on walking on.

"Luke!" She called out. "Molly!"

"The tracks are still leading on." Rick commented. "They sure did get far, that much I can say."

"I'd like to think they're really tough kids." Carol replied.

"They've got to be. Quite honestly, I don't think anyone would survive if not."

"…Sophia didn't have a mean bone in her body." Carol lamented, and she saw Rick at her with sympathy and a bit of surprise. "Well…how was I supposed to know…?"

"I was about to say that. How were any of us supposed to know that you couldn't survive without being a…a hardass?" Rick said, and he and Carol laughed briefly.

"I guess the children know that most. I mean, Lizzie's tough. And I sure as hell know that Carl is."

"Yeah… So Carl's watching over Lizzie… Do they get along at least?"

Rick did not speak for a short while. He just moved his head around. Now that he thought about it, he really hoped he wouldn't have had to address that part of things.

"I'm sure they do. It _was_ Carl who rescued Lizzie."

"Oh really?" Carol asked with a grin. She had a tone of amusement that sort of disturbed Rick.

"I don't even know what happened." He began. "There I was, up from bed, and Carl wasn't in the house…as usual. So I'm…I'm preparing questions for him in my head. 'What were you doing outside again?' 'Don't you know how long you've been acting this way?' 'This goes all the way back to the farm you know.' And then next thing I see, Carl goes to me, and there's Lizzie scooped up in his arms, all settled up on him…" At this point, Rick was talking more to himself than to Carol. "It just completely caught me off guard. She may have been unconscious, but I swear to God, she looked like she was gonna smile or something like that, or maybe I would have seen her nudge her head to him more, and then…"

"Rick." Carol chimed in, looking very amused.

"And then I thought," He continued, completely ignoring her "what was next? Was he gonna lean down and kiss her right in the lips or something?"

"Rick?"

"And then when she woke up," He continued on, but actually addressing Carol, "when she told us about Judith, and everything that happened with you guys, _I swear, _I thought I saw him _holding her hand_! Holding her hand, Carol!"

"Rick!" Carol had to raise her voice a little, and Rick finally stopped, while breathing heavily as if tired. "You're freaking out!" She said, an amused smile on her face.

"You know Carol, she's your child. How could you not be 'freaked out' by this too!?"

"Well, she isn't my blood, and come on Rick! If they're in love…"

"_Don't say that!_" He commanded.

"Well if they were, which they most likely aren't 'cause you're freaking out," she said, punching Rick on the shoulder "don't you think it'd be a good thing?"

Rick looked a bit disturbed amidst Carol's wide smile. "I'd rather think about finding the others as a good thing. Maggie, Beth…"

"Come on Rick. Falling in love, feeling in love, that's something you don't feel everyday, especially in this world! I mean, something like that? _Love_? That could keep you going for your…your entire life!"

"Really Carol? How do _you_ know this? Does this have anything to do about those long moments you've been spending with Daryl?"

"Don't turn this back on me." Carol instantly replied. "Rick. He's your son. If he's starting to fall in love, then I think you should be happy for him.

"That's easy for you to say! You're not his mother!"

"Rick… Double standard. Think of it this way. Imagine if, say, Andrea, had a teenage daughter, and um…Daryl, had a teenage son. If those two kids were starting to like each other, would you be freaked out?"

"I know Andrea would…"

"But _you_ wouldn't." Carol instantly replied. "They're not your kids. Who knows? You'd probably be happy for them…"

Rick opened his mouth as if about to say something.

"Am I right? … Tell me I'm right!" Carol teased.

"Look! That doesn't change a thing Carol! I _am _his father. Now I have a right to feel what I feel dammit!"

"Okay! Jesus… What's gonna happen if Judith gets platonic…? But come on, Rick! If it _is_ happening, which we aren't even sure of yet, I think you should be open to it. While you may not like it, Carl will. That'll have to be enough for you."

Rick pressed his lips together and looked up, as if agitated. He ultimately exhaled and retook a normal expression, as if wordlessly conceding. Carol picked up on that.

"I just… I just can't help but imagine… What if the moment we go back to the house, I'll find them making out or something…"

"Jesus Rick! That's not gonna happen… Though I'd like to see your priceless reaction if it did."

"Carol…"

"Or maybe theirs."

"Carol."

"'Oh my God! It's not what it looks like!'"

"Carol!"

"I'm just kidding Rick!" She laughed, but she now felt as if she had Rick right where she wanted him, so to speak. "You know, now that Carl's older, I wonder if he got your 'things'."

"What?" Rick asked, a very bewildered expression on his face.

"You haven't noticed? We've been joking about that since forever!"

"About what?"

"The way you pronounce 'things'. You sound like some demon possessed you, but it couldn't quite take over your voice… 'Thhaaannngggzzz'" Carol tried to imitate.

"I do _not _sound like that!"

"Yeah you do! …'Thhhaaannngggz!'" She jokingly growled.

"…Okay fine! Maybe I do! But as far as I know, Carl says 'things'…" But before he could continue, he noticed Carol bending in sheer laughter. He gave up and just stood with a poker face.

"Okay, if Carl says it exactly like _that_, then we're all probably gonna die 'cause we'll be too busy laughing our asses off!" She continued to laugh, as Rick held his tongue.

The sound of the laughter though, was joined by the sound of snarling, as walkers began to approach them.

"Geez, I was just kidding." Carol remarked as she moved a little closer to them and brought out her gun. Rick held Judith closer to him, as Carol began gunning down the walkers one by one.

**x**

Tyreese and Mika were also caught up with walkers. Tyreese hammered all the walkers he saw. There were quite a lot of them.

"Mika! You gotta shoot!" He cried, as he continued to hammer down the walkers.

"I can't get a good shot! You're in the way!"

"What?" As Tyreese had his back turned, a walker ambushed him. He was too slow to raise his hammer, but fast enough to stop it from biting him. He wrestled it for a while before eventually kicking it away from him.

"Mika! Now!"

And Mika took the shot.

* * *

Carl and Lizzie were outside, having their dinner. They roasted the chipmunk and had a side of macaroni, and set up a small fire to roast it in and, in Lizzie's case at least, to keep warm.

"Jesus, it's cold! Is winter coming or something?"

"I kinda stopped keeping track of things. We can make a run if it is…"

Lizzie nodded, and moved closer to the fire.

"Don't get _too_ close, you might get burned…" Carl cautioned. Lizzie stopped, but Carl then noticed Lizzie's eagerness to get as close as she could. "You're shivering." He observed.

"Carl, how the hell are you not dying of this too?" Lizzie asked.

"Fine. Do you wanna come closer, and get some of my body heat?" He teased.

Lizzie threw him a raspberry. …But she couldn't help but feel as if she wanted to…

"And leave my gun? No way!" She teased back.

"Why? You can just bring it, or it'll only 3 feet away from you anyway!" He laughed.

"Well, one, good luck having a gun pressing down on your thigh, and two, for all I know, one of those 50,000,000,000 animals we saw in the woods might come up and snatch it."

"Yeah, seriously." Carl recalled. "How the hell were _all _those animals there, at once?"

"I guess, really _everything_, got screwed up when the walkers came along, including whatever…"

"…habits these animals had." Carl completed the sentence. "Let's face it. That might make sense… And by the way, I saw a deer, so I win."

Lizzie didn't understand at first, but eventually did. "Fuck you. I saw a bobcat."

Carl tried to speak up.

"And an owl."

Carl tried to speak up again.

"Barn owl."

Carl was silent. Lizzie winked at him in triumphant acknowledgment.

"…Touché."

But then, the sounds of shuffling and snarling began to slightly fill the air. It wasn't very loud, but it was loud enough for Carl and Lizzie to hear.

"I'll handle this." Lizzie immediately declared, and she picked up her gun, knife and flashlight and headed off. When it came to her and Carl, it seemed as if whenever a threat like a walker came along, there was some sort of switch they would flick that would do away with whatever feelings or preoccupations they were dealing with, and completely, and coldly, focus them on eliminating that threat.

Lizzie followed the sound to the road, and flashed her light. It captured two walkers shuffling towards her direction. Lizzie raised her gun. Though the darkness limited her vision, since her light could only catch so much, she aimed as best as she could at the approaching walkers. She shot one, and it went down. She walked over to it and flashed her light at it again to make sure there was a hole in its head. The other walker had gotten a bit close, and with a bit of haste, she shot it as well, and it went down. She began walking over to it to make sure, but then, more sounds of shuffling and snarling were coming in, and were getting louder by the second. Realizing what could be afoot, Lizzie started to look a bit more scared. She shone her light straight ahead and began moving forward. She found that there were even more walkers making their way towards her. Her light was able to capture several of their faces and features, but the rest were just malevolent silhouettes in the night…and there were a lot of them.

She immediately turned back, but was ambushed by the walker she had just shot. It went straight for her, and Lizzie began grappling it, trying to keep it at bay. She had her arm at its neck, and she couldn't flash her light at it…as if it mattered, she already knew she didn't shoot it in the right place. She was able to push it to the side, and was quickly able to flash her light, get a good view of its head, and shoot it right there. She had taken quite sometime dealing with that walker though, as she found that the other walkers, in their sheer numbers, had gotten a lot closer. Quickly, she got the body of the freshly killed walker and flung it over her body. Looking from under the body, she saw the giant herd get closer and closer, if it wasn't already close enough to her for making a run for it to not to be an option. She saw bodies shamble past her, she couldn't really tell how many, nor was she counting. But then, she felt something start to trickle down her nose. She was bleeding again; she had bumped her face into the walker's when she flung its body over hers. Now, in an almost literal sense, there was blood in the water, and Lizzie didn't know if the walkers would notice. But that question was answered, when she saw, from her upside down vision, a gnawing figure bend down and veer its face towards her. Quickly, Lizzie adjusted the walker's body to block the gnawing one from her, and rolled out. She quickly shot the other walker right in the head. But she was now standing right in the middle of the herd. She had no time to waste. She quickly shot another approaching walker and ran. There weren't as many walkers that crossed her while she was hiding as she thought, but that didn't mean there weren't many. So many walkers were coming at her, that she couldn't find the time or the space to kill them all. Some she shot, and some she could just push or kick away. It soon came to point that when one walker came to attack her and she kicked away, the rabidity and disarray of her actions and situation ended up making her fall down herself. And when she fell, when she saw more and more walkers approaching, she took a split-second to take in a horrible truth: she was one girl who had to deal with an entire horde of walkers.

But in that same split-second, something happened that made her remember another truth of the matter: She had to face this entire horde all right. But she didn't have to face it alone. Just as she fell to the ground, the walker that was nearest to her was shot in the head. She turned back and saw Carl shoot at the remaining walkers blocking her escape. She had managed to run rather close to the front of the herd that he didn't have to shoot that many walkers to clear her path.

"Come on!" He immediately helped Lizzie up and put her in front of him as they made a run back for the house. The walkers were beginning to move faster towards them and Carl turned back to shoot some more of them down as Lizzie turned to look back at him.

"Just keep running! I'll be right behind you!" He called, as he continued to shoot. After a bit of hesitation, Lizzie continued running as Carl continued to shoot at the walker horde. He shot as many as he could before turning off his flashlight and turning back and making a run for it himself. The walkers continued to approach with an ever-quickening pace as Lizzie finally reached the house, shortly followed by Carl. They immediately pushed the couch to the door to barricade it, and ran up the stairs, into their room and slammed the door behind them.

* * *

Mika and Tyreese continued to the fight through their group of undead attackers as Tyreese took on as many walkers as he could head on, bashing their heads in with his hammer while Mika shot at any walker that got too close. Tyreese tried to direct as many walkers as he could towards him and kept Mika close. He felt the instinctual need to protect her, and whether or not she would assert her walker-killing independence, he knew it would do him good to also protect her ammo. As Mika shot a walker that had crept up behind her, Tyreese immediately ran to kill the others that were with it. He turned and saw Mika raising her gun at the walkers heading that were coming up from in front of them.

"Wait! I've got this!" He asserted. And he rushed to those walkers and began hammering down on them. He may have been outnumbered, but the walkers were completely at his mercy. It seemed as if for every second, one walker went down. Mika watched as Tyreese unleashed his brute strength on the group, but once again she was snuck up on by a walker. This time, it succeeded in grabbing her, and it took everything she got to free herself from its grip. In the process though, she stepped back and tripped over a thick branch. But she was able to quickly grab her gun and kill the walker before it could get too close. As the walker fell down dead, and as Tyreese was finishing off the horde before him, she was reminded of the reason she and Tyreese were out in the forest in the first place: the tracks. She looked over at them and saw that they still led on.

"Tyreese." She called his attention as he finished dispatching the group. He knelt down to look at the prints. "They lead on. See?"

They followed the footprints as far as their eyes could lead them in their position. From their particular point of view, they looked like they could lead on for quite a good distance. But as they were busying themselves with observing, another walker emerged from the bushes. Tyreese quickly pushed Mika out of the way, but before he could stand up and grab his hammer, the walker had tackled him. He did his best to hold off the walking corpse, but he, and Mika, noticed several more walkers coming. With no other option, Mika shot the walker that was on Tyreese and in the process, attracted the others to her. She raised her gun, prepared to shoot.

"Wait!" Tyreese called out, more to the walker than to Mika. It turned to him just in time to see Tyreese swinging the branch Mika tripped on at it. His brute-like swing knocked its head right out of its body, and it flew into the distance like a baseball hit for a homerun. He then charged at the other two walkers and tackled them to the ground, holding them to the ground by pressing the branch to their necks. Immediately, Mika ran and retrieved the hammer.

"Ty!" She called to him, and he handed him the hammer, and with one mighty feat of strength, Tyreese crushed the two walker's heads with a single blow.

"Sorry." He told Mika whilst catching his breath. "I just didn't want to use up ammo." He continued catching his breath for a little while longer.

"Maybe we should have gotten more from Rick's arsenal." He said, and he continued catching his breath.

"Who needs those guns if you can do that?" Mika simply asked, referring to the walker carnage beneath them.

**x**

Meanwhile, Carol sliced down the walkers before her, Rick and Judith. Unlike with Tyreese and Mika, all the threatening walkers were in front of them, which certainly made cutting through the walker group a lot easier. And it was almost as if the "cutting through" were literal. For every walker that approached Carol, she would just slice through it in one swift swing, almost as if cutting through long grass. She had learned her lesson and only swung to slice or to decapitate, and didn't drive the machete through the skull, so that it wouldn't get stuck in it. She had led Rick and Judith along for a certain distance, cutting down any walker that got in her way, until she came across a particular set of footprints. There wasn't just one pair of prints, the pair they had been following, but two. The second pair had bigger feet and was directly behind the first pair. She then noticed both pairs moving off to the left, and the first, smaller pair was gradually getting farther away from the other larger pair. Carol thought up a scenario in her head, and she didn't like what she was thinking. "Shit." She muttered, and she jogged off to the left.

"Carol? Carol, what's going on?" Rick asked, just able to keep up while still holding on to Judith.

"There's another set of prints, right behind the ones we've been following." She said. Rick put two and two together, and arrived at the same idea Carol had. Now they were gonna follow the prints to see if their guess was right…and they hoped to God that it wasn't… They followed the footprints up to the point where they were led to the riverbank. They followed the prints some more and ended up stepping into the foot-deep waters. As Carol and Rick went further across the river to a gathering of rocks, despair began filling their faces.

Mika and Tyreese followed their own set of footprints. They too had followed it for a certain distance, until they found what they were looking for: the end point. One of two reactions would have come about once the end point was reached. It would be either pure joy or sheer sadness. Unfortunately, it was the latter. There they found Luke, lying on the ground, dead. Tyreese bowed his head down in grief and despair, while Mika didn't even try to suppress her emotions. Slowly bursting into tears, she ran to the body. She knelt by it, saw the fateful bite, gently put a hand on him, and let the tears flow from her eyes. His death may have been brutal, it may have been painful, but the way Mika observed it, he, ironically, looked peaceful.

Rick and Carol continued moving down the riverbank, up to the gathering of rocks, where they confirmed what they thought they saw, what they scared they would see: there Molly lied. Dead. Carol placed a hand to her mouth while Rick began moving in a small circle while holding Judith, sadness and shock filling their faces. Carol then bent down and held Molly's shoulder for what was going to be the last time, and observed the bite mark on her neck. It was saddening to see such a mark, but what saddened her even more was seeing the gunshot hole in her head. She had shot herself. A little girl shot herself in the head.

They walked back to the house, where they met up with Tyreese and Mika. The four looked at each other for a while, until Rick simply shook his head. Mika bowed her head down while Tyreese looked up and moved his head, possibly holding back tears. He then looked at Rick, and though he knew that both he and Carol knew, as he and Mika had come back by themselves, he simply shook his head as well.

The moment they could, possibly unsurprisingly, they were off. They had stockpiled their guns evenly into the two cars, and the groups were the same. Rick and Carol were in Rick's car, with Judith sitting at the back, and Tyreese and Mika were in Carol's right behind them.

"Rick." Carol began. "After what just happened, I should tell you. If Carl really feels he has something with Lizzie…any feelings…don't get in his way. If it's something that makes him feel happy, then you should leave him be. That way, when his time comes…however way it may…he'll go out happy. He won't be sad, or regretful, or lonely…or scared. He'll be happy."

Rick looked at Carol thoughtfully, and then nodded and looked at the road. It had been one tough day for them, to say the least. All he wanted was to be back with Carl. And surely, all Carol and Mika wanted, was to be back with Lizzie. From what Rick gathered, if no other herd will detour them like it did him, then he, Carol and the others would be able to arrive back to Carl and Lizzie, probably in time for dinner. Maybe, he thought, after all that happened today, it would be nice to join them for dinner time…and whatever it was they would be doing by then.

"Just drive straight ahead, I'll tell you when to make a left." He instructed.

* * *

Lizzie looked out the window at the ravenous herd of walkers. There must've been 100 or even 150 of those snarling corpses out there…and they were all trying to break through their front door.

"Don't look." Carl held her shoulder. With a sigh, Lizzie complied. "How's the nose?"

"I don't know. What do you think? It feels like it stopped…"

"…Yeah." Carl observed. "I don't see any more blood… I think we're good…"

"Are we?" Lizzie emphatically asked. "I've got two bullets left."

"…I've got none."

With a deep sigh, Lizzie sat down on the floor and leaned back against the wall under the window.

"Some dinner time this was…" She remarked, and she continued to despondently sit.

With a thoughtful gaze, Carl went and sat beside her, and after a few moments, presumably to gain his pluck, he put an arm around Lizzie's shoulder.

"It's okay…It's okay." He said softly repeatedly.

"Carl." She called his attention. "…I'm not scared."

"…I know." He said reassuringly. Lizzie couldn't help but smile a little.

"I'm just… I'm just…angry…sad." She couldn't really articulate herself well given the circumstances.

"…I guess I am too…"

They continued to sit for a while, the hopes of silence dashed by the ravenous walkers.

"So is this it?" Lizzie softly asked, breaking the silence. "Is this how we die?"

"Well…I _hope_ it isn't, that much I can say… I haven't seen my dad yet."

"I haven't seen Mika yet…or Carol…"

"…or Judith."

At hearing this, Lizzie looked at Carl, and he met her gaze. She then leaned her head on Carl's shoulder as Carl continued to rub Lizzie's while still looking at her.

"You look really pretty in that sweater by the way." He softly told her.

Lizzie looked up at him. "You're the one who found it. Are you sure that's not why you're saying that?" She asked back, just as softly. Her face was rather close to his.

"Maybe. Maybe not."

"Well…might be a psychological thing."

With every reply, their voices were getting softer and their faces were coming closer together as well.

"We're in that position again."

"What position?"

"The one you said. Where you're leaning on me."

"I meant when I'm leaning _back _on you."

"Whoops. Silly me."

"Well you know, what?"

"What?"

"I kinda like it…"

"You mean when you're leaned back on me?"

"Yeah."

"Really? Well how about this? Do you like this?"

"…Yeah."

At this point, their voices were even softer than whispers. The only people who would be able to hear them were themselves. And their faces were so close to each other that they could make out the fine details. But the part that was closest to the other was their lips. They were so close together…that they were almost about to touch.

But just before the lips could touch though, the sound of screeching tires was heard. The sound was then followed by that of a body getting hit, and then by gunshots. Lizzie and Carl immediately broke off and looked out the window. There they saw the car that Carl and Rick had found. The one Rick took with him on the search for Judith. And there they saw Rick, shooting rapidly at whatever walker came within his sight from inside the car. The car honked its horn and flashed its lights to attract as many walkers as it could. And from the flash of the lights, they were able to see Carol in the driver's seat. She drove the car a distance away, prompting the attracted members of the herd to follow.

"We've gotta drive it far enough so that we can get our weapons!" Carol exclaimed.

"Yeah! Tell me something I don't know!" Rick replied, and he and Carol continued to goad the herd on.

But there was a problem. As Carl and Lizzie observed, the entire herd had begun to follow the car. It was certainly going to be too much for them to handle.

"There's no way they can take that whole herd on!" Carl observed.

"Well what are we gonna do? We barely have any ammo!"

Carl thought long and hard on how to proceed. "Okay! We attract as many of them as we can, then we run back to the house and hope for the best!"

"That's your plan!? 'Hope for the best'!? That herd could topple the house!"

"Well I'm not letting my dad take that whole herd on alone! We have no other option!"

Cursing under her breath, Lizzie knew this to be true. She went and got her gun and headed downstairs, with Carl following.

Rick and Carol stopped the car at what they felt was a good enough distance, and they got off to open the trunk. But they found that the walkers were approaching faster than they realized.

"Shit! You got the weapons, I'll cover you!" Carol commanded.

Though not without reluctance, Rick complied, and headed for the trunk. As the walkers at the front of the horde almost immediately got close, Carol immediately began to slash at them with her machete.

Carl and Lizzie removed the couch from the door, and Lizzie made her way outside. She removed the silencer from her gun as she walked out, and as Rick was able to retrieve a semi-automatic, the numbers game was starting to get to Carol. Lizzie took aim, and prepared to hopefully even out the numbers game. She was ready to put things at 50/50. 50 walkers for her and Carl to handle, and 50 for Rick and Carol.

She fired her two rounds.

* * *

**So that part about Andrea and Daryl's figurative teenage children was based on the fact that one, someone wrote a fanfic about what it would be like if Andrea had a teenage daughter while she was going through her stuff and things in seasons 1-3, and two, that Norman Reedus has a teenage son in real life. So yeah, just some trivia! Hope you enjoyed!**


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